J Korean Soc Ther Radiol.
1988 Dec;6(2):169-176.
Radiation Therapy of Suprasellar gern Cell Tumors
- Affiliations
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- 1Department of Therapeutic Radiology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea.
Abstract
- A retrospective study was performed on 15 patients with suprasellar germ cell tumors treated by megavoltage external beam irradiation between Feb. 1979 and Dec. 1985. Follow-up period of survivors was 30 to 91 moths. Histologic diagnosis was obtained before radiation therapy in 10 patients (9 germinomas and 1 mixed). Five patients were treated without histologic verification. In 9 patients with biopsy-proven germinomas radiation therapy was delivered to the craniospinal axis in 6, to the whole brain in 3. In 5 patients with mixed germ cell tumor or elevated tumor marker, irradiation was delievered to the craniospinal axis in 2, to the whole brain in 2, and to the primary site only in 1. Total doses ranged from 5,000 to 5,500 cgy to the promary site, 3,000 to 4,400 cgy to the whole brain, and 1,300 to 3,000 cgy to the spine. In these 14, local tumor was controlled and primary or spinal failure was not observed. One patient without elevated tumor marker was treated to the whole brain, The tumor was not controlled and he had spinal recurrence. It is proven that radiation therapy is an effective treatment for suprasellar gern cell tumors. The neuroendocrinologic presentation, tumor marker status, early response to radiation measured on CT seem to be useful means for selecting patients for radiation therapy when tissue diagnosis is not available.
