Intracranial germinoma with Down's syndrome: a case report and review of the literature.
BACKGROUND
Down's syndrome's association with malignancies such as leukemia is well known, but its association with brain tumor appears to be rare. We reviewed such rare cases of Down's syndrome and intracranial germ-cell tumor.


METHODS
A 10-year-old boy with Down's syndrome and intracranial germinoma located in the left basal ganglia is reported. The patient presented with right hemiparesis and was treated with a combination of surgery, chemotherapy with cisplatin and etoposide, and irradiation.


CONCLUSIONS
We speculate that the percentage of germ-cell tumors is high among Down syndrome patients with brain tumors and that the most common site is the basal ganglia.
Tanabe
M
M
Division of Neurosurgery, Institute of Neurological Sciences, Faculty of Medicine, Tottori University, Yonago, Japan.
Mizushima
M
M
Anno
Y
Y
Kondou
S
S
Dejima
S
S
Hirao
D J
DJ
Kamitani
H
H
Watanabe
T
T
Hori
T
T
D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000473:pathology; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D002648:Child; D004314:Down Syndrome / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D018237:Germinoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male