Pineal region tumors--neurosurgical review.

The treatment for the pineal region tumors depends on tumor histology. Nowadays, germinomas can be cured by radiotherapy and chemotherapy without surgical resection but the other pineal region tumors should be primary treated by surgery. Two microsurgical approaches, the infratentorial supracerebellar and the occipital transtentorial, are accepted as the main standard accesses to the pineal region. For benign pineal tumors (pineocytoma, meningioma, mature teratomas, symptomatic pineal cysts, etc.) radical surgical resection can be curative. For malignant tumors radical surgical resection is not an objective. Serum and CSF markers contribute to the diagnosis of pineal parenchymal tumors. b-HCG is mainly positive in choriocarcinomas, embryonal carcinomas and mixed germ cell tumors and AFP is expressed by yolk sac tumors, embryonic carcinomas, immature teratomas and mixed germ cell tumors, b-HCG is usually low in germinomas which are often positive for PLAP on immunohistochemistry. Fifty-one pineal region tumors were surgically treated by senior author (NdT). Only 17 of them were the neoplasms originating from pineal body (pineal tumors). In conclusion it can be stressed that management of pineal tumors requires a multidisciplinary cooperation. With the exception of germinoma where only a biopsy is needed, the role of the surgeons still remains prominent as resection of pineal tumors requires high technical skill and experience as well as precise clinical judgment.