INTRODUCTION:
Germ Cell Tumors (GCT) are a rare, heterogeneous group of benign and malignant tumours, occurring in gonadal and midline extragonadal sites. These tumors account for an overall 3% of paediatric cancers1. GCTs show a bimodal distribution, with one peak in infancy and the other in adolescence2,3. With the advent of platinum-based chemotherapy in the 1980s, survival has improved dramatically4; with survival in stage I GCT approaching 100%5.A recent hospital based cancer registry (HBCR)reported an incidence of 1.6-3.6%/0.8-4.5% in boys/girls amongst all childhood cancers6. A cross-sectional study from the authors’ centre reports the incidence of GCTs to be 4.2% across all paediatric cancers7,8.
The purpose of this single-centre study was to analyse the clinico-pathological outcomes and prognostic variables amongst extracranial GCTs in children and adolescents treated on a multi-disciplinary approach on standard chemotherapy regimens across a decade at a tertiary referral centre in India.