Pineal Germinoma with Extracranial Metastases: Case Report

Pineal germinoma is the commonest pineal region tumor of childhood and adolescence. Metastatic germinoma most commonly occurs via the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), and it is usually limited to the cerebrospinal axis. Extacranial hematogenous metastasis is known to be very rare. We report here on a case of pineal germinoma with gradual extracranial metastases that occurred both through the CSF pathway and by hematogenous spread. The patient had multifocal CSF seeding after his surgery for pineal germinoma, and the left iliac metastasis and lung metastasis then occurred.

Feasibility of Saline Infusion on the Liver Surface during Radiofrequency Ablation of Subcapsular Hepatic Tumor: An Experimental Study

PURPOSE: The purpose of the study was to evaluate the feasibility of infusion of normal saline onto the surface of the liver capsule for minimizing thermal injury of the adjacent organs during radiofrequency ablation of subcapsular hepatic tumor in an ex-vivo porcine model. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We used porcine small bowel with it's serosal surface spread onto the porcine liver as an experiment model. The puncturing electrode was inserted into a 6 Fr introducer sheath, and the introducer sheath was connected to the infusion pump for creating a saline flow over the liver surface . A total of 15 ablations were divided into the control group (n=5), intermittent saline infusion group (n=5) and continuous saline infusion (n=5) group. The ablations were done during 3 minutes, and the infusion was set at 2 ml/min and stopped every 30 seconds in the intermittent saline infusion group. After the ablation, we measured the size of the ablated lesion on the surface of bowel and liver, and we also measured the depth of hepatic lesion. RESULTS: Ablated areas of bowel and liver surface in the control group, intermittent saline infusion group and continuous infusion group were 210.7+/-89.1 mm2, 74.6+/-27.2 mm2 and 35.8+/-43.4 mm2, respectively, and 312.6+/-73.6 mm2, 228.4+/-110.5 mm2, and 80.9+/-55.1 mm2, respectively. In contrast to the broad base of the ablated area on the surface of the liver in the control group, the shapes of the lesions became narrower approaching to the liver surface in all cases of the continuous saline infusion group, and the shapes of the lesions were broad based in 3 cases and narrow based in 2 cases of the intermittent saline infusion group. CONCLUSION: Continuous infusion of normal saline onto the surface of the liver during radiofrequency ablation of subcapsular hepatic tumor is a feasible method for minimizing thermal injury of the adjacent organs. Further exploration of the optimal parameters or techniques to maximize the hepatic ablation and simultaneously to minimize the thermal injury of adjacent organs is required.