Onkológia 5/2022

Treatment of patients with growing teratoma syndrome in nonseminomatous germ cell tumors

Growing teratoma syndrome (GTS) is a rare condition in patients with non-seminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCTs), which can occur during or after various time of chemotherapy completion. This syndrome is characterized by enlarging metastatic tumor masses despite the adequate systemic therapy in different anatomic sites, most commonly in the retroperitoneum, concurrently with normalized serum tumor markers α-fetoprotein (AFP) and choriogonadotropin (hCG). The diagnosis is confirmed by histologically benign mature teratoma without any component of viable germ cell tumor in surgically resected lesions. Gold standard of GTS treatment remain complete surgical resection, which provide the only hope for cure for the patients, while other medical options remain miserable due to low response rates in case of surgical inoperability. This article reviews the current integrated point of view in terms of the treatment options in GTS with the proposed algoritm of follow-up of these patients.

Keywords: growing teratoma syndrome, germ cell tumor, teratoma