Neoadjuvant chemotherapy for newly diagnosed germ-cell tumors of the central nervous system

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Abstract
✓ A neoadjuvant (preradiotherapy) chemotherapy regimen consisting of either cyclophosphamide alone (60 to 80 mg/kg) or a modified multidrug regimen (vinblastine, bleomycin, cyclophosphamide, and cisplatin) was administered to 15 newly diagnosed patients with histologically confirmed, fully staged, primary germ-cell tumors (GCT's) of the central nervous system (CNS). There were 11 patients with germinomas and four with non-germinoma malignant GCT's. There were six females and nine males, whose median age was 13 years (range 4 months to 24 years). Seven germinoma patients (64%) had disseminated disease. For the germinoma patients, the subsequent radiotherapy dose was modified based on the response to the neoadjuvant chemotherapy, and craniospinal radiotherapy was given only to those with disseminated CNS disease at diagnosis. Ten of the 11 germinoma patients had complete disappearance of all evaluable disease after two courses of chemotherapy (cyclophosphamide in eight and multidrug in three) and one had a ...