Basal ganglia germinoma: MRI classification correlates well with neurological and cognitive outcome.
Basal ganglia germinomas (BGG) are often associated with delayed diagnosis because of their nonspecific clinical presentation and subtle abnormalities on initial neuroimaging. Despite excellent survival, the prognostic indicators still remained unclear. From our case series, we demonstrated that the MRI classification scheme devised by Phi and colleagues is useful in predicting neurological and cognitive outcomes for patients with unilateral BGG. Subtle lesions with faint or no contrast enhancement are associated with early cerebral atrophy with progressive neurological deficits and poor cognitive outcomes. BGG along with bilateral involvement, regardless of the types of lesion, are also associated with poor neurological and cognitive outcomes.
Departments of *Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine †Diagnostic Radiology, Hong Kong University, Queen Mary Hospital, Hong Kong, China.
Winnie Wan-Yee
WW
Tso
Ada Wing-Yan
AW
Yung
Hin-Yue
HY
Lau
Godfrey Chi-Fung
GC
Chan
D000293:Adolescent; D001479:Basal Ganglia / Q000473:pathology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000145:classification* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D059248:Chemoradiotherapy; D002648:Child; D003071:Cognition; D018237:Germinoma / Q000145:classification* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000628:therapy; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome