Surgical treatment of anterior communicating artery aneurysms.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to J U Choi.
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The therapeutic modalities used for tumors of the pineal region in Western countries differ from those in Japan, mainly because of the different patient populations. An extensive survey was conducted to delineate the racial differences in Japan and in Korea in the epidemiology and recent therapeutic modalities for this tumor group. Among the members of International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery (ISPN), 15 from Japan and 5 from Korea reported their recent findings in 118 (1-25 years of age, mean 7.38-year period) and 125 (1-12 years of age, mean 6.69-year period) histologically verified cases, respectively. The patient populations in the two countries were found to be almost identical, with an extremely high incidence of germ cell tumors representing 71.2% (in Japan) and 80.0% (in Korea) of all pineal region tumors and neuroectodermal tumors representing only 15.2% and 16.8%, respectively. The most common type of pineal region tumor was germinoma (46.6% in Japan and 47.2% in Korea). The majority of tumors were radio- and/or chemosensitive, and adjuvant therapy rather than extensive surgery played the major role in the treatment in both countries. Radical resection of the tumor was recommended as the initial procedure by only 22.2% of neurosurgeons in Japan and 16.6% in Korea. Biopsy was recommended by 38.9% and 50.0%, and radiation therapy by 38.9% and 37.5%, respectively. A minimally invasive procedure, by either a neuroendoscopic (33.3% of biopsies in Japan) or a stereotactic approach (33.3% of biopsies in Korea), was considered to be appropriate as the initial procedure. The study disclosed the almost identical epidemiology of this brain tumor in Japan and in Korea and clarified the consequent therapeutic modalities. The authors emphasize that minimally invasive tissue diagnosis with or without tumor debulking should be considered as the initial step for the treatment planning of the pineal region tumor, followed by the most commonly indicated major procedures, including radiation therapy, chemotherapy and/or radical resection with various methodologies.
The authors retrospectively analyzed 107 patients with primary intracranial germ cell tumor (GCT), who were treated at the Department of Neurosurgery, Yonsei Medical Center between January 1986 and January 1996. The incidence of GCT was 2.8% in pediatric patients with intracranial tumor. Of the 107 tumors, 60 were located in the pineal region, 30 in the suprasellar region, 16 in basal ganglia or the thalamic region, and 1 in the posterior fossa. The 60 pineal GCT consisted of 39 germinomas (29 pure germinomas, 6 germinomas with STGC, 4 germinomas mixed with teratoma), 5 mature teratomas, and 16 nongerminomatous GCT. Thirty patients underwent surgery: their operations took the form of total resection in 14 cases, subtotal resection in 10, and biopsy in 6. Thirty patients (27 with germinomas, 3 with endodermal sinus tumors) were managed without surgery on the basis of radiological findings and tumor markers. The 5-year survival was 91% for 39 patients with germinomas, 80% for 5 with mature teratomas, and 49% for 16 with nongerminomatous GCT. Univariate analysis of prognostic factors with the Kaplan-Meier survival curve showed that histological tumor type, radiological findings, results of tumor marker studies, and response to trial radiation or chemotherapy were highly correlated with outcome. Chemotherapy was beneficial as the method of trial treatment in pineal GCT and treatment in recurrent tumors. The administration of trial chemotherapy or radiotherapy without tissue biopsy is well justified as a treatment modality in pineal GCT suspected on the basis of radiological findings and tumor marker studies. Aggressive multimodality approaches with surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy are necessary to improve the outcome in these tumors. We propose new protocol for treatment of germ cell tumors in the pineal region, which is based on a minimally invasive approach.