title: Malignant germ cell tumor of the mediastinum: a multimodality therapeutic approach.
abstract: Twenty-five patients with a malignant germ cell tumor of the mediastinum were treated at the National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo. Three patients had pure seminomas while 22 had a nonseminomatous histology. The treatment modalities consisted of surgery alone in 7 patients, surgery with chemotherapy and/or radiation in 14, and chemotherapy and/or radiation without surgery in 4. Cisplatin-based chemotherapy was administered in nine patients, one of whom successfully underwent high-dose chemotherapy with autologous bone marrow transplantation after resection of the tumor. A complete response was achieved in only five patients. The overall survival rate at 5 years was 33.5% and the median survival time was 51 weeks. Eight patients (32%), all of whom underwent surgery either with or without chemotherapy and/or radiation, were free of disease with a mean follow-up period of 439 weeks (72-1,120 weeks). The median survival times for 14 patients undergoing combined modality treatment, 7 patients undergoing surgery alone, and 4 patients undergoing chemotherapy and/or radiation were 83, 16, and 18 weeks, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Division of Thoracic Surgery, National Cancer Center Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Asamura
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Tsuchiya
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Goya
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kondo
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Naruke
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Saijo
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Suemasu
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018237:Germinoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008479:Mediastinal Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011379:Prognosis; D015996:Survival Rate