Objective: To analyze the clinical outcome of patients diagnosed with growing teratoma syndrome (GTS) at a single center during a long follow-up.
Patients and methods: Eleven patients with GTS are reported. GTS lesions were located in the metastatic sites involved at disease presentation. Involved sites were: retroperitoneum in 9 patients; lung in 3; supraclavicular lymph nodes in 2, and inguinal lymph nodes in 1. Surgical resection of the masses was the treatment of choice.
Results: Twenty-four surgical procedures were performed: 4 thoracotomies; 2 supraclavicular; 1 inguinal, and 17 retroperitoneal node resections. Three patients have not relapsed since surgery of the masses, at 37+, 110+ and 118+ months. Eight patients have relapsed, 6 with mature teratoma and 2 (22%) with cancer. To date, all the patients are alive, 6 of them without disease and 5 with teratoma after resection of the masses.
Conclusions: GTS is an infrequent entity. Involved sites are only at locations previously affected by the disease. The treatment of choice is surgical resection but recurrence is common. Efforts should be done to complete resection of the masses.