Prognosis:
Benign GCTs show excellent prognosis even when recurrence is present
[11,55]. With excision using wide margins, recurrence has been
reported in 2-8% of cases [55]. When incompletely excised, the
recurrence rates increase to 21% to 50% [29]. After removal of a
GCT, some authors suggest that a long term follow up of 10 years should
be performed because distant recurrences have been documented [56],
but there is no clear consensus or standards on this matter [14].
Malignant GCTs have a worse prognosis, with 74% and 65% survival rates
at 5 years and 10 years, respectively. Malignant GCTs show a recurrence
rate of 32% to 41% and metastasis rate of 11 to 62% between 3 to 37
months after diagnosis [11]. Those with distant metastases at
diagnosis have 0% survival at 5 years compared to 81% in those without
metastases [11].