ENDODERMAL GERM-CELL CARCINOMA (ENDODERMAL SINUS TUMOR) OF THE VAGINA IN INFANT GIRLS

An endodermal sinus tumor (endodermal germ cell carcinoma) was diagnosed in a 1-year-old girl in the vagina after vaginal hemorrhage; the tumor was completely removed by radical abdominal surgery. Postoperative polychemotherapy was performed for two years with Actinomycin D, Adriamycin, Vincristin, and Cyclophosphamide. The infant is now tumor-free for 26 months, showing almost normal somatic and psychic development. The characteristic histological patterns and clinical course of this strongly malignant tumor are demonstrated, based on 25 published casereports of endodermal sinus tumors in the vagina of little girls (aged 5-26 months). This neoplasm in early infancy has to be separated from the clear-cell adenocarcinoma of the vagina which occurs after puberty in adolescent girls and young women, and is induced by stilbestrol therapy to the mother during early pregnancy. © 1979 Springer-Verlag.