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Primary intracranial germ cell tumours

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Summary

A histological study has been made of a retrospective series of 17 primary intracranial germ cell tumours found in a collection of 3550 intracranial neoplasms (incidence of 0.48%). All, except for two differentiated teratomas (one extracerebral in a neonate and another in the lateral ventricle), were situated in the midline in persons aged 5 to 37 years (13 males, 4 females). 12 tumours were located in or originated from the (para)pineal region, two of them also invaded the hypothalamus, while three germinomas occupied the retrochiasmal (supra/intrasellar) region without pineal involvement. There were 11 rather pure tumours (7 germinomas, 4 teratomas of various differentiation) and six “mixed” neoplasms (2 germinomas with teratoid areas, 3 embryonal carcinomas containing elements of endodermal sinus tumour, choriocarcinoma and germinoma, and one teratocarcinoma with endodermal sinuses). Only one case showed prominent features of endodermal sinus tumour, but characteristic elements of this type were present in four other “mixed” tumours. All germinomas and germinomatous parts of mixed neoplasms showed an inflammatory reaction of varying intensity, in 6 cases associated with multinucleated giant cells, which may be related to the prognosis of these tumours (one patient with hypothalamic germinoma is alive 6 years after radiotherapy). The close structural similarities between the various types of intracranial and gonadal dysgerminomas and their frequent combination within the same tumour support the concept of a common histogenesis of germ cell tumours regardless of their site of origin. Difficulties of classification may arise from the rather frequent occurrence of “mixed” germ cell neoplasms.

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  1. Neurological Institute of University of Vienna, Austria

    K. Jellinger

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Dedicated to E. Frauchiger, on the occasion of his 70th anniversary.

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Jellinger, K. Primary intracranial germ cell tumours. Acta Neuropathol 25, 291–306 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00691757

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00691757

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