title: Pineal germinoma.
abstract: Germinomas are gonadal neoplasms that rarely occur extragonadally in the midline structures of the human body. Newly diagnosed adult cases of pineal gland germinomas are very rare since most of the cases are diagnosed in the mid teens. The estimated incidence of this tumor in western countries is between 0.4-3.4%. Typically, this tumor is diagnosed by its characteristic radiological appearance alone, supported by tumor marker(s) or by stereotactic biopsy of the tumor. We are reporting a very unique case of pineal germinoma diagnosed in an adult at our institute by cerebrospinal fluid cytology with literature review. We analyzed case reports, literature reviews, and therapy and diagnostic articles about pineal germinoma in the English literature from 1983 to 2009 through the national library of medicine, Pubmed, and OVID search engines. We used key words "pineal germinoma," "pineal gland tumor," "CNS germinoma," and "extragonodal germinomas" to search for our articles.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, The University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Oklahoma City, OK, USA. drnandos@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Nandakumar
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Srinivasan
authors.forename: Aneesh
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pakala
authors.forename: Chandana
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mukkamalla
authors.forename: Alok
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Oswal
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D018237:Germinoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010871:Pinealoma / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000628:therapy; D010907:Pituitary Hormones / Q000097:blood; D011379:Prognosis; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed
chemical_list: D010907:Pituitary Hormones