GERM-04. PRIMARY INTRACRANIAL GERM CELL TUMORS ARE MORE PREVALENT AMONG PEDIATRIC PATIENTS OF ASIAN/PACIFIC ISLANDER RACE/ETHNICITY IN THE UNITED STATES

Abstract

IntroductionPrimary intracranial germ cell tumors (GCTs) appear to be more prevalent among pediatric patients in eastern Asia than in the U.S. Herein we use cancer registry data to evaluate whether GCT prevalence differs by race/ethnicity among U.S. pediatric patients. MethodsPediatric patients (age≤14) presenting between 2004–2017 with a primary intracranial GCT were identified by ICD-O-3 histological and topographical coding from the National Cancer Database (comprising >70% of cancers newly-diagnosed cancers in the U.S.), and categorized by NICHD age stages. Patients’ age, sex, race/ethnicity, and overall survival, and tumor location and size were evaluated. Results889 pediatric patients with primary intracranial GCTs were identified, which were overwhelmingly male (64.8%) and pure germinomas (64.0%). Non-germinomatous (24.5%) and mixed (11.5%) tumor types were in the minority. Overall, primary GCTs comprised 4.9% of intracranial tumors in pediatric males and 2.9% of intracranial tumors in pediatric females. Asian/Pacific Islander pediatric patients in the U.S. had a notably higher prevalence of GCTs: among Asian/Pacific Islander males, 10.6% of all brain tumors were GCTs, compared to only 4.5% in White non-Hispanic patients, 2.8% in Black non-Hispanic patients, and 6.0% in Hispanic patients. Despite the much lower prevalence of GCTs among female patients overall, this predominance also persisted for Asian/Pacific Islander females, among whom 7.5% of brain tumors were GCTs, compared to only 2.5% in White non-Hispanic patients, 2.4% in Black non-Hispanic patients, and 4.1% in Hispanic patients. Overall, 9.4% of pediatric primary intracranial GCTs occurred in patients of Asian/Pacific Islander race/ethnicity, in contrast to 4.0% of diffuse astrocytic/oligodendroglial tumors, 2.8% of other astrocytic tumors, or 4.6% of embryonal tumors. ConclusionsPrimary intracranial GCTs affect a substantially larger proportion of both male and female pediatric patients of Asian/Pacific Islander race/ethnicity in the United States.