A rare case of metachronous pituitary germinoma and testicular seminoma: The role of tumor markers in diagnosis and the influence of glucocorticoids on disease progression
The presence of both an extragonadal germ cell tumor and gonadal germ cell tumor is a rare occurrence with few cases reported in the literature. We herein report a case of a young man presenting with hypophysitis due to a pituitary germinoma. After a course of high dose glucocorticoid (GC) therapy a...
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| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Journal of Clinical and Translational Endocrinology Case Reports |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214624525000012 |
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| Summary: | The presence of both an extragonadal germ cell tumor and gonadal germ cell tumor is a rare occurrence with few cases reported in the literature. We herein report a case of a young man presenting with hypophysitis due to a pituitary germinoma. After a course of high dose glucocorticoid (GC) therapy and the surgical removal of the germinoma, a testicular seminoma was discovered, an apparently second distinct primary germ cell tumor. Hypophysitis was initially attributed to lymphocytic hypophysitis due to the largely unrevealing secondary work up that included beta-human chorionic gonadotropin (b-hCG) and alpha fetoprotein (AFP), which highlights the pitfalls of relying on the tumor marker of b-hCG in both germinomas and seminomas and the important role of biopsy for definitive diagnosis of hypophysitis etiology. Furthermore, the presentation of the seminoma following a course of high dose GC indicates that immunosuppressive therapies may promote the growth of these germ cell tumors. |
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| ISSN: | 2214-6245 |