1985 Volume 25 Issue 12 Pages 1036-1042
Extracranial metastases of pineal tumors are extremely rare. Only 26 cases are reported in the literature. Another such case is reported and the relevant literature is reviewed. An 8-year-old boy with human chorionic gonadotropin (HCG) producing pineal tumor was treated by ventriculoperitoneal shunt and irradiation. After a 2-month period, re-elevated serum HCG level, bloody sputum, and multiple pulmonary lesions on X-ray developed. Multiple pulmonary metastases of the pineal tumor were suspected. They were diagnosed because abnormal tumor cells were obtained from the left lung by needle biopsy, and the size of the pulmonary lesions corresponded well to the serum HCG level after chemotherapy.
