Abstract
Results of the treatment in 107 patients with germinal tumor in this department for the past 31 years were studied. The mortality rate during hospitalization was 27%. In particular, the mortality rate after resection of the tumor was as high as 35%. The mortality rate during hospitalization for the 10 year period since 1971 was 14%, indicating an improvement. The five-year survival rate was 50% for all and 69% for the 32 patients for the 10 years since 1971. There was no significant difference in the survival rates between the patients who received radiation therapy after resection and those who received only irradiation therapy. Of the patients who were treated by irradiation alone, the three-year survival rate was 75% in patients who received irradiation both to the whole brain and to the local region, showing the most favorable result. There was no significant difference in age, sex, duration and site of the disease and the mode of treatment between patients who survived over 5 years and those who died within 5 years. Tissue studies disclosed that germinoma was in the majority. As for germinoma in the pineal body, 16 of the 19 patients in whom the tumor was located in the posterior part of the third ventricle survived over 5 years, suggesting the importance of early diagnosis. The one-year survival rate for patients with highly malignant germ cell tumors was 14%. There was no patient with this tumor who survived for two years or more. Metastasis to the spinal cord occurred in 40% (2/5) of the patients with embryonal carcinoma, 3% (2/64) in patients with germinoma, and 5.2% (4/77) of all patients with germinal tumors.
