Quality of life of extremely long-time germinoma survivors mainly treated with radiotherapy.

PURPOSE: To assess the quality of life (QOL) of extremely long-time survivors with germinoma mainly treated with radiotherapy.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: We enrolled 52 of 68 patients who received radiotherapy between 1968 and 1995 at our hospital. They were 41 males and 11 females; the tumor location was pineal in 20, neurohypophyseal in 15, pineal and neurohypophyseal in 11 patients; in 6 it was located in another region. All underwent radiotherapy; the median dose was 48.2 (range 40.0-60.2) Gy. The median follow-up period was 226 (range 0-448) months. The clinical outcome and QOL were evaluated retrospectively.

RESULTS: In 6 patients, the tumor recurred; 6 other patients developed second tumors while in complete remission from the first tumor. The main cause of 12 deaths was complications due to primary tumor invasion, the initial treatment, or tumor recurrence rather than tumor progression. The 10-, 20-, and 30-year actuarial survival rate was 83.6, 77.5, and 64.2%, respectively. Of 44 patients, 6 were married and 3 males with solitary pineal tumors were fathers. Among 32 patients, 14 had, or had not, graduated from high school; the other 18 went on to higher education. Twenty-one patients had no occupation; 7 of 11 formerly employed patients had left their jobs.

CONCLUSION: Radiotherapy delivered between 1968 and 1995 to patients with germinoma yielded satisfactory outcomes but a decline in the QOL.