Childhood Extracranial Germ Cell Tumors Treatment (PDQ®)–Health Professional Version

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Changes to This Summary (04/05/2018)

The PDQ cancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.

Stage Information for Childhood Extracranial Germ Cell Tumors (GCTs)

Added text to state that the ovarian staging systems described in this section require adherence to specific guidelines. However, in a pediatric intergroup trial, guidelines were followed in only 2 of 131 patients with ovarian tumors (cited Billmire et al. as reference 8). Also added text to state that in a single-institution retrospective study, guidelines were followed in only 2 of 44 patients with ovarian tumors (cited Madenci et al. as reference 9).

Treatment Option Overview for Childhood Extracranial GCTs

Revised Table 8 to update the treatment options for immature teratomas and malignant nongerminomatous ovarian GCTs in prepubertal and postpubertal females and to include footnotes a and b (cited Norris et al. as reference 20).

Treatment of Mature and Immature Teratomas in Children

Added text to state that the use of chemotherapy is controversial in pediatric patients with stages II, III, and IV immature teratomas.

Revised text to state that there are no clinical trials supporting the use of chemotherapy in children, as this area has not been well studied. Immature teratomas in children are primarily managed with surgery and observation. In adults, surgery followed by chemotherapy has been the standard treatment approach since 1976. As in children, there are no clinical trials supporting the use of chemotherapy in adults.

Revised text to state that a seminal article published in 1976 reported that most women with immature teratomas were treated with surgery and chemotherapy; this approach has remained standard practice in postpubertal females.

Treatment of Malignant Gonadal GCTs in Children

Revised text to state that surgery and chemotherapy is the standard treatment option for postpubertal females with stages I, II, III, and IV malignant nongerminomatous ovarian GCTs.

Added Surgery and observation as a new subsection.

Added Surgery and chemotherapy as a new subsection.

This summary is written and maintained by the PDQ Pediatric Treatment Editorial Board, which is editorially independent of NCI. The summary reflects an independent review of the literature and does not represent a policy statement of NCI or NIH. More information about summary policies and the role of the PDQ Editorial Boards in maintaining the PDQ summaries can be found on the About This PDQ Summary and PDQ® - NCI's Comprehensive Cancer Database pages.

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