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The most common site for germ cell tumors to arise is within the gonadal tissue. However, a small percentage of germ cell tumors arise in extragonadal sites. The most common site for an extragonadal germ cell tumor is the anterior mediastinum. These tumors account for approximately 10% of all primary mediastinal neoplasms. These tumors are usually divided into benign (∼70% of all tumors) and malignant (∼30% of all tumors) categories (Chetaille et al. 2010). Mature teratomas and teratomas with a minority (<50%) immature component are considered benign. Dysgerminomas (seminomas) and non-seminomatous germ cell tumors are considered malignant. The majority of benign tumors are asymptomatic at the time of diagnosis. The majority of malignant germ cell tumors are symptomatic at diagnosis with patients usually presenting with chest pain and dyspnea. The treatment of mediastinal germ cell tumors is heavily dependent upon histology....
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Rengan, R., Thomas, C.R. (2013). Mediastinal Germ Cell Tumor. In: Brady, L.W., Yaeger, T.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of Radiation Oncology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85516-3_147
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-85516-3_147
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