Multidisciplinary treatment of primary intracranial yolk sac tumor: A case report and literature review.

RATIONALE: Intracranial yolk sac tumors (YSTs) are rare malignancies with limited treatment options and a dismal prognosis. They are usually managed with surgical resection and chemoradiotherapy. PATIENT CONCERNS: Here, we report a patient with primary YST in the pineal region who achieved long term survival. Despite undergoing treatment, he experienced several recurrences over a 15-year period. DIAGNOSIS: Brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) demonstrated the presence of space-occupying lesions in the pineal region and the medial tail of the left lateral ventricle. The tumors were excised, and the histological diagnosis suggested an intracranial YST. INTERVENTIONS: The patient achieved long term survival after combined modality therapy including surgery, stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS)/intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT), chemotherapy, and targeted therapy. OUTCOMES: The disease remained stable. However, the patient gave up treatment and passed away in October 2020, with a total survival of about 15 years. LESSONS: To the best of our knowledge, this patient with intracranial YST had received a longer survival compared with other published reports. We summarize previously published reports of intracranial YST and discuss the importance of multidisciplinary treatment. SRS may have a role, as a focal boost to residual tumor after resection or in case of recurrence after conventional radiotherapy, in the multimodality management of intracranial YSTs.

A meta-analysis of treatment effects of imiquimod for basal cell carcinoma.

OBJECTIVE: We conducted this meta-analysis to assess the efficacy and safety of imiquimod in comparison with other treatments in patients with BCC. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was performed in the database of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science. Outcomes of interest included histological/composite clearance rate, success rate, complete response rate, tumor free survival, and adverse events. Pooled risk ratio (RR) with 95% confidence intervals (CIs) using a fixed-effects or random-effects model were determined for each outcome. RESULTS: A total of 13 studies involving 4256 patients were identified. Imiquimod was associated with significantly higher histological clearance rate (RR = 9.28, 95%CI: 5.56, 15.49; P < .001) and composite clearance rate (RR = 34.24, 95%CI: 21.29, 55.06; P = .001). Moreover, imiquimod also significantly increased complete response rate (RR = 3.15, 95%CI: 1.55, 6.38; P = .001) but had no effect in the success rate (RR = 0.98, 95%CI: 0.89, 1.08; P = .727) and probability of tumor-free survival (RR = 1.15, 95%CI: 0.98, 1.35; P = .088), as compared with other treatments. There were more patients in imiquimod group who developed adverse events than in other treatment group (RR = 2.00, 95%CI: 1.39, 2.88; P < .001). CONCLUSION: This study indicated the effects of imiquimod in improving the histological/composite clearance rates as compared with other treatments. However, its treatment-related adverse events also should be noticed. Our findings supported that, imiquimod could be used as the first-choice treatment for BCC.