Spontaneous rupture ‑induced life‑threatening mediastinal mixed germ cell tumor: A case report and therapeutic considerations

Oncol Lett. 2024 Feb 28;27(4):183. doi: 10.3892/ol.2024.14316. eCollection 2024 Apr.ABSTRACTSpontaneous rupture and hemorrhage of mediastinal germ cell tumors is a rare occurrence. In the current report, the case of a 20-year-old male patient who was admitted with chest tightness and dyspnea is presented. An urgent chest CT scan revealed a large tumor in the right anterior mediastinum, measuring ~12 cm in diameter, with associated intratumoral hemorrhage. An emergency thoracotomy was performed to excise the lesion, which revealed that the bleeding was caused by a ruptured tumor. Postoperative pathological findings revealed a mediastinal mixed germ cell tumor consisting of four pathological types: Embryonal carcinoma, seminoma, yolk sac tumor and immature teratoma. Postoperatively, the patient showed marked improvement in the symptoms of dyspnea. However, the follow-up outcome was poor, and the patient succumbed 2 months after surgery. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports of rupture and hemorrhage involving >4 mixed germ cell tumors. In the present report, the experience of the treatment of the patient is summarized, and literature was reviewed to improve clinicians' awareness of the disease.PMID:38476210 | PMC:PMC10929001 | DOI:10.3892/ol.2024.14316
Source: Oncology Letters - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Source Type: research