Decision Making in a Data-Poor Environment: Management of Brain Metastases From Testicular and Extragonadal Germ Cell Tumors [ONCOLOGY GRAND ROUNDS]

The Oncology Grand Rounds series is designed to place original reports published in the Journal into clinical context. A case presentation is followed by a description of diagnostic and management challenges, a review of the relevant literature, and a summary of the authors' suggested management approaches. The goal of this series is to help readers better understand how to apply the results of key studies, including those published in Journal of Clinical Oncology, to patients seen in their own clinical practice. A 32-year-old man with a history of a mixed germ cell tumor of the testis presented with acute-onset, right-sided weakness and numbness. His previous treatment included orchiectomy, which revealed a 5-cm tumor that was 95% yolk sac tumor and 5% embryonal carcinoma, and retroperitoneal lymph node dissection for clinical stage I disease in January 2010, which revealed no nodal metastases. Starting in June 2010, he was treated with four cycles of etoposide and cisplatin for pulmonary and thoracic lymph node metastases and a rising serum alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) level. He subsequently received four cycles of paclitaxel, ifosfamide, and cisplatin for relapse in the lungs and mediastinal nodes with a rising AFP level starting in January 2011. He reported having a 2-week history of intermittent headaches in December 2011, when he presented with acute-onset, right-sided weakness and numbness. Computed tomographs of the head was obtained and demonstrated a left parietal intrac...
Source: Journal of Clinical Oncology - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Oncology Grand Rounds Source Type: research