Faculty Collaboration Database

Neuroimaging of disseminated germ cell neoplasms. AJNR Am J Neuroradiol 1990;11(2):319-24

Date

03/01/1990

Pubmed ID

2156412

Pubmed Central ID

PMC8334683

Scopus ID

2-s2.0-0025233452 (requires institutional sign-in at Scopus site)   5 Citations

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to determine the role of neuroimaging in the management of patients with metastatic germ cell tumors. Retrospective evaluation of 299 patients treated in 1986 and 1987 for initial presentation or recurrence of testicular, retroperitoneal, and mediastinal germ cell tumors was performed to determine indications for neuroimaging, frequency and site of CNS metastases, and occurrence of other CNS abnormalities. Sixty-six patients required CNS imaging with myelography, CT, or MR. Studies were normal in 24 patients. Twenty patients had CNS metastases including 11 with intracranial metastases, eight with spine lesions, and one with both brain and spine involvement. Sixteen had cerebral or cerebellar atrophy of unclear origin and functional significance. Two patients had ventriculomegaly without symptoms of hydrocephalus. Four patients had questionable lesions that were never confirmed. None of the 25 asymptomatic patients with elevated serum tumor markers had brain metastases. Fifteen of 17 patients with focal neurologic deficits and three of six patients with seizures had CNS metastases. CNS imaging to detect germ cell tumor metastases is most useful in the presence of neurologic deficits or seizures but is not useful in patients with unexplained elevation of serum tumor markers in the absence of neurologic deficits.

Author List

Mathews VP, Broome DR, Smith RR, Bognanno JR, Einhorn LH, Edwards MK

Author

Vincent Mathews MD Chair, Professor in the Radiology department at Medical College of Wisconsin

MESH terms used to index this publication - Major topics in bold

Adult
Brain Neoplasms
Diagnostic Imaging
Humans
Male
Mediastinal Neoplasms
Neoplasm Recurrence, Local
Neoplasms, Germ Cell and Embryonal
Retroperitoneal Neoplasms
Retrospective Studies
Spinal Cord Neoplasms
Testicular Neoplasms