AN ADOLESCENT CASE OF RETROPERITONEAL PURE CHORIOCARCINOMA - SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT WITH MCNU-CONTAINING HIGH-DOSE CHEMOTHERAPY FOLLOWED BY AUTOLOGOUS BONE-MARROW TRANSPLANTATION AFTER MULTIPLE BRAIN METASTASES

Choriocarcinoma is a rare disease in pediatric neoplasms. The prognosi s of the disease is extremely poor once when patients relapse or becom e refractory bo cisplatin (CDDP). A 17-year-old male who had retroperi toneal pure choriocarcinoma of advanced stage was treated with CDDP-ba sed intensive chemotherapy. In spire of the initial goad response to C DDP-based intensive chemotherapy, the tumor metastasized to multiple a reas of the brain during chemotherapy. Since the brain in this case wa s thought to be a sanctuary, after radiotherapy to the whole cranium, the patient was treated with high-dose chemotherapy consisting of etop oside, carboplatin, and ranimustine (MCNU), which can penetrate the bl ood-brain barrier, followed by autologous bone marrow transplantation (ABMT). Twenty-four months after ABMT, the patient had no sign of dise ase recurrence. MCNU-containing high-dose chemotherapy with ABMT appea rs to be quite effective in cases that present with relapsing multiple brain metastases during CDDP-based chemotherapy.