ArticlePloS one2016
Determining an Optimal Cutoff of Serum β-Human Chorionic Gonadotropin for Assisting the Diagnosis of Intracranial Germinomas.
Article in PloS one, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
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Who cites it
10 citing papers in PubMed, 16 citations in OpenAlex.
- Elevation of hCG in CSF in pinealoblastoma: a pitfall rescued by pathological examination.Acta neuropathologica communications · 2025Article
- Pineal/germ cell tumors and pineal parenchymal tumors.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2023Review
- Intracranial Germinomas: Diagnosis, Pathogenesis, Clinical Presentation, and Management.Current oncology reports · 2023Review
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- Pituitary stalk thickening in patients under 18 years of age - the most common causes and diagnostic procedures.Pediatric endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism · 2022Review
- Article
- LncRNA SNHG5 Promotes Proliferation of Glioma by Regulating miR-205-5p/ZEB2 Axis.OncoTargets and therapy · 2019Article
- Significance of human chorionic gonadotropin as a predictor of resistance to standard chemo-radiotherapy for pure germinoma.Neurosurgical review · 2018Article
- A Craniopharyngioma Associated With Elevated Cerebrospinal Fluid HCG Concentrations Misdiagnosed as a Germinoma.Frontiers in neurology · 2018Article
- A rare case report and literatures review on primary germinoma in cerebellar hemisphere.Child's nervous system : ChNS : official journal of the International Society for Pediatric Neurosurgery · 2017Review
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8 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
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No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundBeta (β)-human chorionic gonadotropin (β-HCG) is used to confirm the diagnosis and plan treatment of intracranial germinomas. However, the cutoff values of serum β-HCG in diagnosis of intracranial germinomas reported in the literature are inconsistent. To establish an appropriate cutoff value of serum β-HCG for diagnosis of intracranial germinomas, we retrospectively reviewed the records of intracranial tumor patients who received serum β-HCG and α-fetoprotein (AFP) tests for diagnostic purposes at our hospital from 2005 to 2014.
methodsA total of 93 intracranial germinomas and 289 intracranial non-germ cell tumors were included in this study. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of 3 cutoffs (0.1, 0.4, and 0.5 mIU/mL) for diagnosing intracranial germinomas. The serum β-HCG level of intracranial germinoma patients was further analyzed to investigate the effect of metastasis status and tumor location on serum β-HCG level.
resultsThe area under the ROC curve was 0.81 (P < .001), suggesting β-HCG is an effective marker. Of the 3 cutoff values, 0.1 mIU/mL possessed a highest sensitivity (66.67%) and good specificity (91%). Although there was no β-HCG level difference between metastatic and non-metastatic intracranial germinoma patients, the diagnostic rate of metastatic neurohypophyseal germinomas was significantly higher than that of its non-metastatic counterpart (P < .05), implying that the location of the germinoma might need to be considered when β-HCG is used as a marker to predict metastasis.
conclusionsDetermining an optimal cutoff of serum β-HCG is helpful for assisting the diagnosis of intracranial germinoma.
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