GCT-37. PREVALENCE OF AUTISM SPECTRUM DISORDER AND OTHER NEURODEVELOPMENTAL DISORDERS IN PEDIATRIC PATIENTS WITH INTRACRANIAL GERM CELL TUMORS

Abstract

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE(s)Intracranial germ cell tumors (IGCTs) are rare tumors of the central nervous system with peak incidence around puberty. Due to the developmental origins of IGCTs, we investigated the prevalence of neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), including autism spectrum disorder (ASD), in our retrospective institutional cohort of patients diagnosed with IGCTs.MATERIALS/METHODSA retrospective review of medical records was conducted for 105 patients who were diagnosed with IGCTs and treated at Massachusetts General Hospital between 1998 and 2016. All patients with ASD had thorough neuropsychological assessment at the time of radiotherapy that confirmed their diagnoses.RESULTSMedian age at diagnosis was 12.8 years (range: 4.3–21.6) and median follow-up time was 4.7 years (range: 0.4–15.8). Seventeen patients with IGCTs were diagnosed with NDDs prior to cancer diagnoses, including five patients with ASD, and three patients with chromosomal abnormalities, including one patient with Down syndrome. Interestingly, four of five patients with ASD developed pure germinomas, giving an ASD prevalence rate of 6.5% and 2.3% in the pure germinoma and NGGCT cohorts, respectively. All other patients had no known diagnoses of NDDs.CONCLUSIONSOur study found 17 patients with IGCTs were diagnosed with NDDs prior to their cancer diagnoses. An ASD prevalence of 6.5% in the pure germinoma cohort is more than three-fold greater than the national prevalence, suggesting there may be an association between ASD and pure germinomas. Future prospective studies with larger cohorts are still needed to examine associations between NDDs and ASD and IGCTs.