[Cisplatin-etoposide chemotherapy of an embryonal carcinoma arising in the basal ganglia of the cerebrum: a case report].

Cases of embryonal carcinoma arising in the basal ganglia are rarely reported. According to the literature available, only 5 cases of embryonal carcinoma, arising from the basal ganglia, have been reported to date. This paper reports one such case we recently encountered. The patient was a 15-year-old boy. He was first admitted to another hospital because of occasional headache and vomiting. During the hospital stay, CT scans revealed abnormalities. For this reason, the patient was referred to our critical care center. Upon admission to our center, a physical examination revealed no abnormalities, but neurological examination disclosed left hemiparesis. CT scans revealed a large mass lesion of a low to high density in the right basal ganglia, accompanied by midline shift and ventricular dilatation. Elevation of human chorionic gonadotrophin (HCG) and alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in both serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was observed. The tumor with multiple cysts was removed totally by craniotomy. The removed tissue was rated histopathologically as mixed-type germ cell tumor composed of germinoma and embryonal carcinoma. The removed tumor cells were found immunohistologically to contain HCG and AFP. Postoperative CT scans showed complete disappearance of the tumor. Taking into account a recent report that a combined cisplatin and etoposide therapy (PE chemotherapy) was effective in treating intracranial germ cell tumors, we used this chemotherapy for postoperative management of this patient. The patient underwent 3 cycles of PE chemotherapy during the 3 months after surgery. The elevated HCG and AFP levels in serum and CSF returned to their normal range within 2 months after surgery. CT and tumor markers revealed no signs of recurrence.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)