Clinical and imaging features of basal ganglia germinoma in children and adolescents / 中国医师杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective:To investigate the clinical and imaging features of basal ganglia germinoma in children and adolescents, so as to improve the accuracy of early diagnosis.Methods:The clinical symptoms and imaging findings of 10 cases of basal ganglia germinoma diagnosed by surgical examination or diagnostic radiotherapy in Xinhua Hospital Affiliated to Medical College of Shanghai Jiaotong University from January 2010 to December 2019 were analyzed retrospectively.Results:There were 9 males and 1 female, aged from 5 to 15 years, with an average age of 9.7 years.There were 10 cases of limb weakness or mild hemiplegia, 1 case of headache and vomiting, and 1 case of extrapyramidal tract sign. There were 9 cases of computed tomography (CT) examination, 5 cases of high density, 4 cases of mixed density, and 3 cases of intrafocal calcification. 10 cases of routine magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examination, MR T1-weighted imaging (T1WI) 5 cases of low signal, 3 cases of slightly low signal, 1 case of equal low signal, 1 case of equal slightly low signal; MR T2-weighted imaging (T2WI) 3 cases of high signal, 5 cases of slightly high signal, 2 cases of high and low mixed signal; T2 fluid attenuated inversion recovery (T2FLAIR) 1 case of low signal, 2 cases of slightly high signal, 1 case of iso-high signal, 5 cases of high signal, 1 case of high and low mixed signal; Diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) 2 cases of low signal, 1 case of equal signal, 1 case of equal slightly high signal, 4 cases of slightly high signal, 2 cases of high signal; 1 case of functional imaging susceptibility-weighted imaging (SWI) 1 case of low signal; 10 cases of MRI enhancement 2 cases of no enhancement, 5 cases of mild enhancement, 3 cases of moderate/obvious enhancement, and the enhancement methods can be seen in spot, patch, mass and ring enhancement; Functional imaging magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) in 2 cases 1 case had slender middle cerebral artery, fewer branch arteries than the opposite side, and 1 case showed no obvious abnormality; 2 cases of positron emission (PET)-CT the metabolism of methionine (MET) on the affected side was significantly increased in 2 cases.Conclusions:Germinoma in the basal ganglia of children and adolescents are more common in men, with weakness or mild hemiplegia as the main symptom. The imaging findings have certain characteristics. Imaging findings combined with relevant clinical data can improve the accuracy of early diagnosis of germinoma in the basal ganglia.