Ten Cases of Primary Mediastinal Malignant Germ Cell Tumor

Ten cases of primary mediastinal malignant germ cell tumors were studied retrospectively. All but one were male and most of the patients suffered from chest pain or cough. While 3 patients who were classified as seminoma had normal serum tumor markers, seven non-seminomas had high levels of α-fetoprotein (AFP) or carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA). Of the 5 patients who initially received cisplatin-based combination chemotherapy, 3 attained a pathological complete response (CR) by thoracotomy. Of the 5 patients whose tumors were initially resected, 4 received adjuvant cisplatin-containing chemotherapy. In summary 7 of the 9 remain alive and disease-free. These results strongly suggest that combined modality treatment provides good results for patients with primary mediastinal malignant germ cell tumor.