Gonadal germ cell tumors in children: A retrospective review of a 10-year single-center experience

Risk of epilepsy in gonadal teratoma: a nationwide population-based study

Epilepsy is a common neurological disease. Systemic tumors are associated with an increased risk of epileptic events. Paraneoplastic encephalitis related to gonadal teratoma is frequently accompanied by seizures and life-threatening status epilepticus (SE). However, the risk of epilepsy in gonadal teratoma has not been studied. This study aims to investigate the relationship between epileptic events and gonadal teratoma. This retrospective cohort study used the Korean National Health Insurance (KNHI) database. The study population was divided into two study arms (ovarian teratoma vs. control and testicular teratoma vs. control) with 1:2 age and gender-matched control groups without a history of gonadal teratoma or other malignancy. Participants with other malignancies, neurologic disorders, and metastatic brain lesions were excluded. We observed the occurrence of epileptic events during the observation period (2013-2018) and investigated the risk of epileptic events in each gonadal teratoma group compared to controls. In addition, the influence of malignancy and tumor removal was investigated. The final analysis included 94,203 women with ovarian teratoma, 2314 men with testicular teratoma, and controls. Ovarian teratoma is associated with a higher risk of epilepsy without SE (HR, 1.244; 95% CI 1.112-1.391) and epilepsy with SE (HR, 2.012; 95% CI 1.220-3.318) compared to the control group. The risk of epilepsy without SE was higher in malignant ovarian teratoma (HR, 1.661; 95% CI 1.358-2.033) than in benign (HR, 1.172; 95% CI 1.037-1.324). Testicular teratoma did not show significant relations with epileptic events. The risk of epileptic events showed a tendency to decrease after removing the ovarian teratoma. This study found that ovarian teratoma is associated with a higher risk of epileptic events, especially in malignant tumors, whereas testicular teratoma did not show significant differences in epileptic events compared to the control group. This study adds to the current understanding of the association between gonadal teratoma and epileptic events.

Testicular tumor arising from an intra-abdominal undescended testis in a 1-year-old child: a case report and literature review

Objectives

Testicular tumors in the intra-abdominal undescended testis are rare in children, and their management remains challenging. The aim was to present a case report and review of the literature about diagnosis and treatment of testicular tumors arising from undescended intra-abdominal testis in children.

Methods

In this study, we retrospectively analyzed the clinical records of a 1-year-old male patient admitted to pediatric surgery in March 2022 with a testicular tumor originating in the intra-abdominal undescended testis. Furthermore, medical literature published in English during the last three decades was systematically searched through the databases of Medline, PubMed, and Google Scholar.

Results

The patient underwent laparoscopic orchiopexy and tumor excision. The operation was uneventful, and the patient recovered well without complications. An 8-month follow-up showed no recurrence of the teratoma after postoperative pathology. The literature search resulted in the retrieval of 16 non-duplicate articles, and 16 patients were included in this review. The cases included six cases of left cryptorchidism and 10 cases of right cryptorchidism, with an average age of 15.3 months. The largest transverse diameter of the tumors ranged from 1.8 to 12.5 cm, with an average tumor length of 6.7 cm. All patients underwent surgical treatment, including three cases of laparoscopic orchiectomy, a sole case of a conversion of inguinal incision to laparotomy and orchiectomy, and 12 cases of laparotomy and orchiectomy. Postoperative pathology revealed 12 cases of mature teratoma, two cases of immature teratoma, one case of yolk sac tumor, and a single case of embryonic carcinoma combined with yolk sac tumor. 11 patients were followed up, and one of them recurred.

Conclusion

Abdominal ultrasound (US) or abdominal computer tomography (CT) should be performed in cases of undescended testis suspected to have testicular tumors on clinical findings. The most common type of intra-abdominal testicular tumor is mature teratomas. Early diagnosis and prompt surgical intervention resulted in an excellent outcome.

Clinical outcome of lymphadenectomy in malignant ovarian germ cell tumors: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Malignant ovarian germ cell tumors (MOGCTs) are predominately diagnosed in young patients and account for most preadolescent malignant ovarian tumors. Currently, due to the high sensitivity of MOGCTs to chemotherapy and the optimal survival rate after chemotherapy, some researchers have recommended opting for non-surgical treatment. However, the effect of lymphadenectomy (LND) on the survival of patients with MOGCT remains controversial. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare the clinical outcomes of LND and non-LND in MOGCT surgeries in order to summarize the clinical experience. PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL), International Clinical Trials Registry Platform (ICTRP), and Clinical Trials.gov were searched from inception to December 26, 2021. Data on the rates of survival, relapse, and adverse effects were evaluated using Review Manager software. Fourteen studies with 10,759 participants were included in this review. There were 5863 and 4896 patients in the LND- and LND+ groups, respectively. Pooled results showed that although disease-free survival (DFS) was significantly improved in the LND+ group compared to the LND- group (HR: 0.74; 95% CI: 0.56 to 0.97; 2091 participants), LND did not significantly affect overall survival (OS) (HR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.51 to 1.31; 5298 participants). The operation time was significantly longer in the LND+ group than in the LND- group (P<0.001). Blood loss (P=0.004) and complication rate (P=0.003) were also significantly higher in the LND+ group than in the LND- group. There was no significant difference in mortality rate (P=0.500). LND was associated with an improvement in DFS. However, there was no significant difference in OS in MOGCTs. We recommend that LND should not be a routine surgery for children or young patients with MOGCTs; although it may be beneficial for older people, advanced stage tumors, specific pathological types, and non-chemotherapy patients.

A 10-year retrospective single-center study of alpha-fetoprotein and beta-human chorionic gonadotropin in Romanian children with (para)gonadal tumors and cysts

OBJECTIVES

Malignant tumor is a top-ranking cause of pediatric (>1-year) mortality in America and Europe. Among pediatric tumors, germ cell tumors (GCT) and gonadal tumors rank fourth (6%) by the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) program (seer.cancer.gov). Continuous research on tumor markers harnesses their full potential in tumor detection and management. We evaluated the effectiveness of beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-hCG) and Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) in Romanian children with (para)gonadal tumors and cysts, determining their accuracy in detecting malignancy, tumor-type, stage, complications, prognosis, and treatment response.

METHODS

A 10-year retrospective study of AFP and β-hCG in 134 children with cysts and (para)gonadal tumors aged one month to 17 years was performed.

RESULTS

AFP/β-hCG was unelevated in patients with cysts and nonmalignant tumors. Forty-eight/86 patients (43 GCT and 5 non-GCT) with malignant tumors had elevated AFP/β-hCG, 3/48 patients had recurrences, and 25/48 had mixed-GCT (68% had elevated AFP + β-hCG). All 30 patients with Yolk sac tumors (YST) or their components had elevated AFP. Area under the curve, sensitivity and specificity for GCT were: AFP + β-hCG- 0.828, 67.2%, 100%; AFP- 0.813, 64.1%, 100%; and β-hCG- 0.664, 32.8%, 100%. Two patients whose AFP/β-hCG levels remained elevated died. Common mixed-GCT components were YST-80% and embryonal carcinoma-72%. Thirty of 34 metastasis cases were GCT, with 26/34 patients having elevated AFP/β-hCG.

CONCLUSIONS

AFP/β-hCG detects malignant GCT and can determine tumor-type. GCT patients with markedly elevated AFP + β-hCG had poor prognosis, especially if recurrence or metastasis was present. Recurrence is unrelated to elevated AFP/β-hCG. The tumor components and quantity present determine AFP/β-hCG values in mixed-GCT.

Yolk Sac Tumor in an Infant with Androgen Insensitivity Syndrome: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Background: Androgen insensitivity syndrome (AIS) is a disorder of sexual differentiation caused by complete or partial resistance to the biological action of androgens. The common malignant tumors associated with this syndrome are seminomas. However, the risk of malignancy in childhood remains low. Case Report: A 8-month-old child with a female phenotype and a 46, XY karyotype, presented with bilateral inguinal hernia. The patient underwent right radical inguinal orchiectomy with high ligation of the spermatic cord and laparoscopic percutaneous extra-peritoneal herniorrhaphy. Final pathology confirmed a pure yolk sac tumor (YST) from the right testis. Androgen receptor (AR) gene mutation was found in the children. The follow-up ultrasonography shown no recurrence, with serum AFP returned to normal within 3 months. Conclusion: The case we presented is relatively infrequent in the literature with yolk sac tumor in a AIS children presented with a palpable lump inguinal region.

Genitourinary Tract Tumors in Children: An Update

BACKGROUND

Genitourinary tract tumors in children are less common than in adults. Most of these tumors have different genetic backgrounds, clinical presentation, and oncologic behavior than their adult counterpart. As a result of low prevalence in children, some of the treatment approaches and recommendations are based on treatment experience in adult patients. However, thanks to scientific and technological development, survival rates have risen considerably.

OBJECTIVE

This paper presents a review of the principal features of the tumors involving the genitourinary tract in children and an update in genetic background, diagnosis, and treatment.

METHODS

A narrative review was performed on published literature about genitourinary tract tumors in pediatric patients. Papers presented in English and Spanish literature were reviewed. PubMed, Science Direct, and SciELO databases were used to collect information and present this article.

RESULTS

Kidney tumors are the most common type of genitourinary tumors in children. Among those, Wilms tumor represents the majority of cases and shows the successful work of clinical trial groups studying this tumor type. Other tumors involving the genitourinary tract in children include Rhabdomyosarcoma, Transitional cell carcinoma, Testicular, and Adrenal tumors.

CONCLUSION

Genitourinary tract tumors in children represent significant morbidity and economic burden, so awareness in early diagnosis represents improvement in treatment, clinical, and oncological outcomes.

[Clinical guidelines «Precocious puberty»]

The precocious puberty is an urgent problem of pediatric endocrinology characterized by clinical and pathogenetic heterogeneity. The appearance of secondary sex characteristics before the age of 8 years in girls and 9 years in boys requires timely diagnosis and the appointment of pathogenetically justified treatment in order to achieve the target indicators of final growth and prevent social deprivation. The developed clinical guidelines are the main working tool of the practitioner. They briefly and structurally present the main information about the epidemiology and modern classification of рrecocious puberty, methods of its diagnosis and treatment based on the principles of evidence-based medicine.

Reproductive Outcomes and Fertility Preservation Strategies in Women with Malignant Ovarian Germ Cell Tumors after Fertility Sparing Surgery

Malignant ovarian germ cell tumors are rare tumors that mainly affect patients of reproductive age. The aim of this study was to investigate the reproductive outcomes and fertility preservation strategies in malignant ovarian germ cell tumors after fertility-sparing surgery. Data in literature support that fertility-sparing surgery is associated with an excellent oncological outcome not only in early stages malignant ovarian germ cell tumors but also in advanced stages. Moreover, the possibility of performing conservative treatment should be considered even in case of relapse or advanced disease, given the high chemosensitivity. Indeed, available data have shown that menstrual function is maintained after platinum-based regimens in over 85-95% of patients with malignant ovarian germ cell tumors and rate of premature menopause reported in literature ranges between 3% and 7.4%, while premature ovarian failure rates are between 3.4% and 5%. Moreover, reproductive outcomes are about 80% with no increase in the risk of teratogenicity compared to general population. Therefore, conservative surgery for malignant ovarian germ cell tumors currently may represent a therapeutic option in patients who wish to preserve fertility but must be available for extended follow-up and after subscribing to informed consent.

The individualized significance of lymphadenectomy across all age groups and histologies in malignant ovarian germ cell tumors

PURPOSE

To evaluate the therapeutic role of lymphadenectomy on patients with malignant ovarian germ cell tumor (MOGCT) and to investigate the risk factors of lymph node metastasis.

METHODS

Patients of MOGCT between 1988 and 2013 with definite lymph node information were extracted from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) database. Survival curves were estimated using the Kaplan-Meier method, and Cox regression analyses were performed to evaluate the effects of clinical and pathologic variables on survival.

RESULTS

2424 MOGCT patients with information on lymph nodes were included. Of the entire cohort, 46.2% patients received lymphadenectomy. The most common (42.2%) histologic type was teratoma, and 70.6% patients had FIGO stage I disease. Cox proportional model verified that age, grade, and log odds of positive lymph nodes (LODDS) were independent prognostic factors. Subgroup analysis showed that the association between the lymph node resection and better survival in the different age cohort.

CONCLUSIONS

Lymphadenectomy is not recommended for children (0-14 years). For patients 40 years of age and older, and for those who have the dysgerminoma type or endodermal sinus type, lymphadenectomy had an outstanding therapeutic role. As a parameter to assess lymph node status, LODDS could be used to classify MOGCTs.

Pediatric and adolescent gynecology: Treatment perspectives in minimally invasive surgery

Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is widely utilized across multiple surgical disciplines, including gynecology. To date, laparoscopy is considered a common surgical modality in children and adolescents to treat gynecological conditions. Robotic surgical devices were developed to circumvent the limitations of laparoscopy and have expanded the surgical armamentarium with better magnification, dexterity enhanced articulating instruments with 5-7 degrees of freedom, and ability to scale motion thus eliminating physiologic tremor. There are well-documented advantages of MIS over laparotomy, including decreased post-operative pain, shorter recovery times, and better cosmetic results. Indications for MIS in pediatric gynecology are reported in this review and technical considerations are described to highlight new treatment perspectives in children and adolescents, which have already been described in the literature regarding adult patients.

MR imaging in discriminating between benign and malignant paediatric ovarian masses: a systematic review

OBJECTIVES

The use of magnetic resonance (MR) imaging in differentiation between benign and malignant adnexal masses in children and adolescents might be of great value in the diagnostic workup of sonographically indeterminate masses, since preserving fertility is of particular importance in this population. This systematic review evaluates the diagnostic value of MR imaging in children with an ovarian mass.

METHODS

The review was made according to the PRISMA Statement. PubMed and EMBASE were systematically searched for studies on the use of MR imaging in differential diagnosis of ovarian masses in both adult women and children from 2008 to 2018.

RESULTS

Sixteen paediatric and 18 adult studies were included. In the included studies, MR imaging has shown good diagnostic performance in differentiating between benign and malignant ovarian masses. MR imaging techniques including diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) imaging seem to further improve the diagnostic performance.

CONCLUSION

The addition of DWI with apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) values measured in enhancing components of solid lesions and DCE imaging may further increase the good diagnostic performance of MR imaging in the pre-operative differentiation between benign and malignant ovarian masses by increasing specificity. Prospective age-specific studies are needed to confirm the high diagnostic performance of MR imaging in children and adolescents with a sonographically indeterminate ovarian mass.

KEY POINTS

• MR imaging, based on several morphological features, is of good diagnostic performance in differentiating between benign and malignant ovarian masses. Sensitivity and specificity varied between 84.8 to 100% and 20.0 to 98.4%, respectively. • MR imaging techniques like diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) and dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) imaging seem to improve the diagnostic performance. • Specific studies in children and adolescents with ovarian masses are required to confirm the suggested increased diagnostic performance of DWI and DCE in this population.

Germ Cell Tumors in Dysgenetic Gonads

This review describes the germ cell neoplasms that are malignant and most commonly associated with several types of gonadal dysgenesis. The most common neoplasm is gonadoblastoma, while others including dysgerminomas, yolk-sac tumors and teratomas are rare but can occur. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the incidences of these abnormalities and the circumstances surrounding these specific tumors.According to well-established methods, a PubMed systematic review was performed, to obtain relevant studies published in English and select those with the highest-quality data.Initially, the first search was performed using gonadal dysgenesis as the search term, resulting in 12,887 PubMed papers, published, from 1945 to 2017. A second search using ovarian germ cell tumors as the search term resulted in 10,473 papers, published from 1960 to 2017. Another search was performed in Medline, using germ cell neoplasia as the search term, and this search resulted in 7,560 papers that were published between 2003 to 2016, with 245 new papers assessing gonadoblastomas.The higher incidence of germ cell tumors in gonadal dysgenesis is associated with a chromosomal anomaly that leads to the absence of germ cells in these gonads and, consequently, a higher incidence of neoplasms when these tumors are located inside the abdomen. Several hypotheses suggest that increased incidence of germ cell tumors involves all or part of the Y chromosome or different genes.

Prepubertal testicular tumors in China: a 10-year experience with 67 cases

AIM

Prepubertal testicular tumors are rare in children. We aim to present clinical and histological features of prepubertal testicular tumors through the analysis of the long-term experiences of a single medical center of China.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 67 children (≤ 14 years) treated for testicular tumor at our institution from 2005 to 2015 were retrospectively reviewed. Data relating the clinical characteristics, histopathology findings, serum tumor markers, treatment method, and outcome were collected.

RESULTS

The patients' median age at diagnosis was 18 months (range 3-168 months), and 49 cases (73.1%) were diagnosed at age younger than 3 years. The most common clinical presentation was a painless scrotal mass or swelling. Regarding histology, 32 (47.8%) were teratomas and only one of these tumors presents immature teratomas, 20 (29.9%) were yolk sac tumors, 9 (13.4%) were epidermoid cyst, 1 (1.5%) was a Leydig cell tumor, 1 (1.5%) was a mixed malignant germ cell tumor, and 4 (8.3%) were paratesticular tumors. For germ cell tumors, the mean preoperative serum α-fetoprotein (AFP) level was significantly higher in patients with yolk sac tumor than in those with teratomas (2,078 ng/mL vs 5.7 ng/mL). Of all these patients, 37 (55.2%) were treated with radical inguinal orchiectomy and testis-sparing surgery was planned and achieved in 30 (44.8%). Surveillance was performed in 60 patients. None of the patients developed recurrence or testicular atrophy after appropriate treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

The majority of our cases were benign, with the most common histopathological subtype being teratoma. A testis-sparing procedure should be performed in children with a palpable testicular mass and negative tumor markers. This study shows a better outlook for prepuberty patient with testicular tumors than their adult counterparts.

Serum α-fetoprotein in pediatric oncology: not a children’s tale

Background

Measurement of α-fetoprotein (AFP) concentrations in the serum of infants is useful for the management of testicular germ cell tumors, hepatoblastoma and hepatocellular carcinoma. Here, we provide a critical review of the available information about pediatric reference intervals (RI), focusing on their utility in interpreting AFP as an aid for cancer diagnosis.

Content

Evidence sources in the available literature were critically appraised. Out of 3873 retrieved papers, 24 were finally selected and carefully inspected, and six of them overcame exclusion criteria (i.e. methodological limitations in the study design, statistical gaps, drawbacks in traceability of the AFP assay to higher order materials and/or biased reporting of AFP results). Preterm and term infants up to the 3rd month of life exhibited the highest average AFP concentrations, but the attempt of defining RI by data pooling and partitioning for age intervals was impeded by the wide variability of data. The inability of defining robust RI in the first months of life made difficult, if not impossible, using upper reference limits for ruling out malignancies with a single AFP result. Evaluating the behavior of AFP concentrations 5 days from the baseline result, if this exceeds risk thresholds partitioned for age, according to the formula Xt=X0*2−t/HL (where: t=days elapsed for AFP retest; HL=AFP half-life according to age; X0=AFP baseline concentration, and Xt=predicted AFP concentration at day 5), could give a better information.

Summary

Novel studies defining AFP RI in infants based on robust methodology are warranted to improve the interpretation of AFP results in pediatric oncology. In the meantime, algorithms based on both serum AFP absolute concentrations and HL may aid in cancer diagnosis.