Germ cell tumor classification

Revision as of 18:22, 2 August 2019 by Hudakarman (talk | contribs) (classification)
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Types Subtypes Signs and Symptoms Histopathology Lab finding Treatment Prognosis
Gonadal

Seminoma (Testis)

Gross: pale gray to yellow nodules that are uniform or slightly lobulated and often bulge from the cut surface
  • Complete blood count and blood chemistry tests.
  • Abnormal serum tumor marker levels (LDH, HCG).[1]
  • CT: Metastases to the para-aortic, inguinal, or iliac lymph nodes. Visceral metastasis may also be seen.
  • Pelvic MRI: may be diagnostic. multinodular tumors of uniform signal intensity
  • Hypo- to isointense on T2-weighted images and inhomogenous enhancement on contrast enhanced T1-weighted images.
  • Other diagnostic studies for seminoma include biopsy, FDG-PET scan, and bone scan.

Dysgerminoma

(Ovarian germ cell tumor)

  • Chemotherapy: except those with stage 1a, stage 1a, 1b dysgerminoma
  • Radiotherapy:


** Dysgerminoma is radiosensitive.

** Radiotherapy is not anymore the first option of treatment for dysgerminoma considering its association with ovarian failuredevelopment.

  • Surgery: for diagnostic grading and therapy depending on if the patient prefers to preserve the ovary or not.


Germinoma (Brain)

Extragonadal Embryonic

Teratoma

  • AFP
  • MSAFP
  • CT scans are often used to diagnose teratoma.


  • For malignant teratomas, usually, surgery is followed by chemotherapy.
  • Teratomas that are in surgically inaccessible locations, or are very complex, or are likely to be malignant (due to late discovery and/or treatment) sometimes are treated first with chemotherapy.


The prognosis of teratoma depends on the following:

  • Whether or not the tumor can be removed by surgery.
  • The size and location of the tumor
  • The patient’s general health
  • Teratomas are not dangerous for the fetus unless there is either a mass effect or a large amount of blood flow through the tumor (known as vascular steal). The mass effect frequently consists of obstruction of normal passage of fluids from surrounding organs. The vascular steal can place a strain on the growing heart of the fetus, even resulting in heart failure, and thus must be monitored by fetal echocardiography. After surgery, there is a risk of regrowth in place, or in nearby organs [1]

Extraembryonic

Coriocarcinoma

Yolk sac tumor