Clinical and Treatment Characteristics of Pediatric Cranial/Extracranial Germ Cell Tumors and Literature Review

Objective: Germ cell tumors (GCTs) arise from primordial germ cells and vary greatly in clinical behavior, histology, and location.This study reviews the clinical and prognostic features of cranial/extracranial GCTs in the pediatric population through our clinical trial study and literature review. Materials and Methods:This study is a retrospective analysis of hospital system data on children ages 0-17 with germ cell tumors.A total of 26 patients who were diagnosed and treated for germ cell tumors in the pediatric hematology and oncology department of our university hospital between 2019 and 2023 were included in this study.Patients diagnosed with both intracranial and extracranial germ cell tumors were included.Within the scope of the study, 30 studies were scanned from PubMed and the National Cancer Institute (NCI) data system, and 7 of these were found to be related to the subject and summarized in a table. Results:The mean age of the 26 patients with GCT was 10.3 years (range: 5 months-17 years).Fifteen patients were girls (58%) and eleven were boys (42%).Three GCTs were located intracranially (3/26, 11%) and 23 extracranially (23/26, 89%).Nineteen patients (73%) received chemotherapy, and 7 patients (26%) had surgery-based treatment with no additional chemotherapy.All 3 patients with intracranial GCTs had chemotherapy plus radiotherapy (11%).In total, 2 patients (7%) died because of chemotherapy-refractory disease. Conclusion:GCTs are highly responsive to treatment, including surgery and chemotherapy.With new studies, treatment options will be defined with a flow chart, allowing the selection of the best surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy for optimal prognosis.