Gabriele Calaminus

• MD
• Chair at Universitätsklinikum Bonn

Background In juvenile granulosa cell tumors (juvGCTs), impaired survival was reported after preoperative tumor rupture, peritoneal metastases, or high mitotic rate (≥20 mitoses per 10 high‐power fields). Therefore, a risk stratification was developed to select patients for chemotherapy. Methods Between 2001 and 2019, 89 female patients and 24 mal...

Background Ependymoma is a common brain tumor in children and adolescents. Adjuvant radiation therapy improves prognosis but carries potential toxicity risks, particularly for young patients. Proton therapy (PT) offers better conformal treatments and reduces dose exposure compared to traditional photon radiotherapy. Procedure This study retrospect...

Zusammenfassung Im Projekt VersKiK sollen durch Verlinkung von Daten des Deutschen Kinderkrebsregisters mit Routinedaten gesetzlicher Krankenkassen die Art und Häufigkeit von Spätfolgen und die medizinische Versorgung von Langzeitüberlebenden nach Krebs im Kindes-oder Jugendalter untersucht werden. Das Deutsche Kinderkrebsregister definierte eine G...

This study examines the organization of long-term follow-up care for pediatric cancer survivors through the lens of Bronfenbrenners’ Ecological Systems Theory (EST). Using focus group discussions with survivors and healthcare professionals across Germany, we aimed to identify challenges and facilitators in care provision. Data were gathered during...

Purpose The shift from child‐centered to adult‐focused healthcare presents social and psychological challenges for adolescents and young adults with chronic conditions, which can affect their participation in follow‐up care. This study aims to investigate the factors that influence patient‐driven motivations for adhering to follow‐up recommendation...

Adolescents and young adults (AYAs; ages 15–39 years) are a vulnerable population facing challenges in oncological care, including access to specialized care, transition of care, unique tumor biology, and poor representation in clinical trials. Brain tumors are the second most common tumor type in AYA, with malignant brain tumors being the most com...

Background In Germany, around 2.250 children and adolescents are diagnosed with cancer each year. Despite generally positive long-term survival rates, many patients must cope with late effects of the disease and its treatment. This highlights the need for a well-structured, long-term approach addressing both physical and mental health issues. Curre...

Background SIOP-CNS-GCT-II European trial was opened for the treatment of patients of any age with central nervous system germ cell tumour (CNS-GCT). Four courses of pre-irradiation chemotherapy were delivered. The influence of patient age on chemotherapy related acute toxicity (CRAT) was assessed. Methods CRAT was analysed according to age-groups...

BACKGROUND Controversy surrounds the optimum treatment for localised nongerminomatous germ-cell-tumours (NGGCT). The European group has employed more dose-intense chemotherapy followed by 54 Gy focal radiotherapy (fRT), whilst others additionally apply whole-ventricular or craniospinal radiotherapy (CSI). Historically, these approaches have led to...

BACKGROUND Between 2/2012 and 7/2018, 112 patients with non-germinoma were registered as intend-to-treat patients within the SIOP CNS GCT II trial: 88 patients were male and 24 female. Median age was 13 years (range: 0,1-25,1 years). 95 patients had localised and 17 metastastic disease. 21 patients with bifocal tumors were reported, defined as a sy...

BACKGROUND Between 2/2012 and 7/2018, 261 patients with germinoma were registered as intent-to-treat patients within the SIOP CNS GCT II trial. 209 patients were male/ 52 female. The median age was 14.1 years (range 5,0-41,0 years). 194 patients had localised and 67 had metastatic disease. 64 patients had bifocal germinoma, defined as synchronous s...

Purpose Malignant intracranial germ cell tumors (GCTs) are rare diseases in Western countries. They arise in midline structures and diagnosis is often delayed. We evaluated imaging characteristics and early tumor signs of suprasellar and bifocal GCT on MRI. Methods Patients with the diagnosis of a germinoma or non-germinomatous GCT (NGGCT) who rec...

GCTs are developmental tumors and are likely to reflect ontogenetic and teratogenetic determinants. The objective of this study was to identify syndromes with or without congenital anomalies and non-syndromic defects as potential risk factors. Patients with extracranial GCTs (eGCTs) registered in MAKEI 96/MAHO 98 between 1996 and 2017 were included...

GCTs are developmental tumors and likely to reflect ontogenetic and teratogenetic determinants. The objective was to identify syndromes with or without congenital anomalies and non-syndromic defects as potential risk factors. Patients with extracranial GCTs (eGCTs) registered in MAKEI 96/MAHO 98 between 1996 and 2017 were used. According to Teilum'...

Importance There is a lack of trials examining the effect of counseling interventions for child, adolescent, and younger adult (CAYA) cancer survivors. Objective To assess lifestyle habits and the psychosocial situation of CAYAs to determine the efficacy of needs-based interventions in the CARE for CAYA program (CFC-P). Design, Setting, and Parti...

Introduction This article presents the study design of the qualitative part of the VersKiK study (Long-term care, care needs and wellbeing of individuals after cancer in childhood or adolescence: study protocol of a large scale multi-methods non-interventional study) aiming to explore actual follow-up needs of childhood and adolescence cancer survi...

Purpose: The Short Form-36 (SF-36) is widely used in many research contexts and cultures to assess health-related quality of life (HRQOL). We investigated the measurement properties of the SF-36 in a large cohort study among childhood cancer survivors living in 5 European countries. Methods: The PanCareLIFE project includes adult survivors of child...

Background Treatment of Epstein-Barr virus(EBV)-positive nasopharyngeal carcinoma (NPC) with cisplatin/5-fluorouracil (5-FU) induction chemotherapy, followed by radiochemotherapy and subsequent interferon‑β, has yielded high survival rates in children, adolescents, and young adults. A previous study has shown that reduction of radiation dose from 5...

Background Proton beam therapy (PBT) is being increas16ingly used to treat residual craniopharyngioma (CP) after hypothalamus-sparing surgery. Compared to photon-based radiation therapy (XRT) with PBT, less irradiation in the penumbra reduces the scattered dose to critical organs neighboring but outside the area of treatment, minimizing the risk of...

Purpose To assess clinical outcomes of adolescents and young adults (AYAs) with head and neck sarcomas (HNSs) treated with pencil beam scanning proton therapy (PBSPT) and to report quality of life (QoL). Materials and Methods Twenty-eight AYAs (aged 15 to 39 years) with HNS treated between January 2001 and July 2022 at our institution were include...

Disclosure: J. Beckhaus: None. C. Friedrich: None. S. Boekhoff: None. G. Calaminus: None. B. Bison: None. M. Eveslage: None. B. Timmermann: None. J. Flitsch: None. H.L. Muller: None. The association between age at diagnosis (AaD) and clinical presentation and prognosis of pediatric patients with craniopharyngioma (CP) is not clear. Seven hundred an...

Purpose Auditory complications are potential side effects from childhood cancer treatment. Yet, limited evidence exists about the impact of auditory complications—particularly tinnitus—on health-related quality of life (HRQoL) among childhood cancer survivors (CCS). We determined the prevalence of hearing loss and tinnitus in the European PanCareLI...

The impact of the temporal sequence by which cranial radiotherapy (CRT) and platin‐based chemotherapy (PCth) are administered on sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) in pediatric and adolescent central nervous system (CNS) and head‐and‐neck (HN) cancer patients has not yet been studied in detail. We examined the ototoxic effects of sequentially applie...

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to report the clinical and patient-reported outcomes of children and adolescents with intracranial meningioma treated with pencil beam scanning proton therapy (PBS-PT). Material and methods: Out of a total cohort of 207 intracranial meningioma patients treated with PBS-PT between 1999 and 2022, 10 (4.8%) we...

Purpose Reproductive health is important, but often neglected in cancer survivorship care. This study explored contraceptive use and factors associated with fertility testing among young adult survivors of childhood cancer in Germany. Methods Young adult survivors of childhood cancer were identified through the German Childhood Cancer Registry and...

Purpose Childhood cancer survivors (CCS) are at risk for increased morbidity and reduced quality of life associated with treatment-related late effects. In Germany, however, only a few of the more than 40,000 CCS registered in the German Childhood Cancer Registry (GCCR) currently benefit from adequate clinical long-term follow-up (LTFU) structures....

Purpose: Childhood cancer survivors (CCS) are at risk for increased morbidity and reduced quality of life associated with treatment-related late effects. In Germany, however, only a few of the more than 40,000 CCS registered in the German Childhood Cancer Registry (GCCR) currently benefit from adequate clinical long-term follow-up (LTFU) structures...

Primary vaginal malignancies are rare, comprising only 2% of all female genital tract malignancies in adults and 4.5% in children. As part of its mission to improve the quality of care for women with gynecological cancers across Europe, the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO) jointly with the European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncol...

Approximately 2200 children and adolescents below the age of 18 years are diagnosed with cancer in Germany every year. Due to the continuous further development and standardization of treatment, nowadays over 80% of those affected survive their disease in the long term. Due to the improved long-term survival, late sequelae are becoming increasingly...

12002 Background: The aim of the CARE for CAYA-program (CFC-P) was to implement a multimodal lifestyle program in addition to medical follow-up care for child, adolescents and young adult cancer survivors (CAYAs). Methods: The CFC-P was a multicenter program with an initial randomized clinical trial (RCT) comparing need-based modular interventions...

Primary vaginal malignancies are rare, comprising only 2% of all female genital tract malignancies in adults and 4.5% in children. As part of its mission to improve the quality of care for women with gynecological cancers across Europe, the European Society of Gynaecological Oncology (ESGO) jointly with the European Society for Radiotherapy & Oncol...

Auditory complications are potential side effects from childhood cancer treatment. Yet, limited evidence exists about the impact of auditory complications—particularly tinnitus—on health–related quality of life (HRQoL) among childhood cancer survivors (CCS). We determined the prevalence of hearing loss and tinnitus in the large European PanCareLIFE...

Background: Epidemiological research on late effects of therapy shows the necessity to aggregate chemotherapy agents to substance classes. This requires using conversion factors by substance classes. Aims: The aim of this study was to identify previously used conversion factors from the literature, to present a novel approach for additional fact...

The large diversity of central nervous system (CNS) tumor types in children and adolescents results in disparate patient outcomes and renders accurate diagnosis challenging. In this study, we prospectively integrated DNA methylation profiling and targeted gene panel sequencing with blinded neuropathological reference diagnostics for a population-ba...

Objective: Craniopharyngiomas (CP) are rare malformational tumors. Clinical presentation and outcome of pediatric patients with CP with specific regard to age at diagnosis is not clear. The aim of this cohort study was to determine clinical presentation and outcome in these patients diagnosed at different ages at diagnosis. Design: Seven hundred...

(1) Background: Gastric carcinoma is an exceptionally rare tumor in childhood. Little is known about the etiology, epidemiology, and clinical features of pediatric gastric carcinomas. This analysis aimed to fill this gap by increasing knowledge about the occurrence of gastric carcinoma in childhood. (2) Material and methods: Data from gastric carci...

Approximately 2200 children and adolescents below the age of 18 years are diagnosed with cancer in Germany every year. Due to the continuous further development and standardization of treatment, nowadays over 80% of those affected survive their disease in the long term. Due to the improved long-term survival, late sequelae are becoming increasingly...

Background: Data on late mortality from pediatric germ cell tumors (GCTs) are limited to small case series. Our population-based study aimed to investigate excess risk of death in survivors of GCT in childhood and adolescence, whether long-term mortality changed over time and by period of diagnosis. Methods: The PanCare Childhood and Adolescent...

Simple Summary: Adolescents and young adults (AYA) with cancer often fall through gaps between children’s and adults’ cancer services. They are consequently under-represented in clinical trials, and their survival is often inferior to that of children or adults with the same tumor type; in this paper, we use the example of central nervous system ge...

Background It has been shown previously that a relevant proportion of childhood cancer survivors suffers from late effects, which are often directly related to the cancer itself or its therapy, resulting in particular follow-up needs, additionally burdening healthcare systems. Being diagnosed with cancer at a vulnerable stage of development, this g...

Background: With improved survival rates for children with cancer, quality-of-life (QoL) issues have increasingly become the focus of attention. We report the QoL of children with Ewing sarcoma (EWS) treated with pencil-beam-scanning proton therapy (PT). Methods: A PEDQOL (QoL questionnaire for children 4-18 years) self/proxy questionnaire was u...

At present, approximately 80% of all individuals diagnosed with cancer in childhood and adolescence survive. However, in the course of their lives, these people have a significantly higher prevalence of health problems than their peers without a cancer diagnosis in childhood or adolescence. There is also an increased incidence of psychological stre...

Background: CNS germinoma, being marker-negative, are mainly diagnosed by histological examination. These tumors predominantly appear in the suprasellar and/or pineal region. In contrast to the suprasellar region, where biopsy is the standard procedure in case of a suspected germ-cell tumor to avoid mutilation to the endocrine structures, pineal t...

Purpose The available questionnaires for quality-of-life (QoL) assessments are age-group specific, limiting comparability and impeding longitudinal analyses. The comparability of measurements, however, is a necessary condition for gaining scientific evidence. To overcome this problem, we assessed the viability of harmonising data from paediatric an...

BACKGROUND: Central nervous system (CNS) germ cell tumours (GCT) comprise a heterogeneous and relatively rare group of neoplasms. Improving the ability to conduct international clinical trials for CNS GCT requires use of homogeneous, common objective disease assessments and standardised response criteria. Currently, different criteria are employed...

BACKGROUND: Central Nervous System- Non-Germinomatous Germ Cell Tumors (CNS-NGGCT) are rare but curable tumors. Due to their rarity, treatment failures remain a poorly characterized disease with unfavorable outcomes. In this study, we sought to characterize the treatment failures in a large cohort of prospectively treated patients. METHODS: Europea...

SIOP CNS GCT II aimed to establish if 24 Gy Whole Ventricular Radiotherapy (WVRT) in localised germinoma is sufficient for tumour control. After central review of radiological response after ‘CarboPEI’ chemotherapy, patients in complete remission (CR) were consolidated with 24 Gy WVRT. Between 2/2012 and 7/2018, 194 patients from 8 European countri...

Based on results of SIOP CNS GCT 96, patients enrolled in SIOP CNS GCT II with AFP higher or 1000 ng/ml (serum and/or CSF) and/or age less than 6 years with NGGCTs at diagnosis received two standard cycles of PEI and two higher dose PEI courses followed by radiotherapy according to dissemination (54 Gy local RT or 30 Gy CSI/24 Gy tumour boost). Bet...

The aim of the HIT-HGG-2007 trial (ISRCTN19852453) was to demonstrate therapeutic non-inferiority of temozolomide radiochemotherapy for pediatric patients (3-18 years) with high-grade gliomas (pedHGG) in comparison to the cisplatinum-based radiochemotherapy of the two previous clinical trials HIT-GBM-C/-D. Between 06/2009 and 12/2016, 456 patients...

Background The clinical management of ependymoma in childhood and adolescence is complex and the clinicobiopathological correlates of outcome remain poorly understood. This international SIOP Ependymoma II (SIOP EPII) trial aims to improve the outcome of patients with ependymoma. Methods SIOP EPII includes any patient <22 years at diagnosis with e...

Homogeneous and common objective disease assessments and standardised response criteria are important for better international clinical trials for CNS germ cell tumours. Currently, European protocols differ from those of North America (the USA and Canada) in terms of criteria to assess radiological disease response. An international working group o...

Background Central Nervous System- Non-Germinomatous Germ Cell Tumors (CNS-NGGCT) are rare but curable tumors. Due to their rarity, treatment failures remain a poorly characterized disease with unfavorable outcomes. In this study, we sought to characterize the treatment failures in a large cohort of prospectively treated patients. Methods European...

Purpose: Intracranial germ cell tumors (iGCT) comprise germinoma and non-germinoma. Their diagnosis predominantly relies on biopsy as only one-fifth of patients present with elevated biomarkers (AFP/ß-HCG) in serum or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). MicroRNAs (miR/miRNA) have emerged as non-invasive biomarkers in extracranial GCT and may potentially fa...

The incidence of intracranial germ cell tumors (iCGT) is much lower in European and North American (E&NA) than in Asian population. However, E&NA cooperative groups have successfully developed in parallel treatment strategies with specific attention paid to long-term sequelae. Neurological sequelae may be reduced by establishing a diagnosis with an...

Importance Ototoxicity is an irreversible direct and late effect of certain childhood cancer treatments. Audiologic surveillance during therapy as part of the supportive care pathway enables early detection of hearing loss, decision-making about ongoing cancer treatment, and, when applicable, the timely use of audiologic interventions. Pediatric on...

INFORM is a prospective, multinational registry gathering clinical and molecular data of relapsed, progressive, or high-risk pediatric patients with cancer. This report describes long-term follow-up of 519 patients in whom molecular alterations were evaluated according to a predefined seven-scale target prioritization algorithm. Mean turnaround tim...

5-year overall survival rates have surpassed 90% for childhood acute lymphocytic leukaemia, but survivors are at risk for permanent health sequelae. Although event-free survival appropriately represents the outcome for cancers with poor overall survival, this metric is inadequate when cure rates are high but challenged by serious, persistent compli...

In children with cancer, the heterogeneity in ototoxicity occurrence after similar treatment suggests a role for genetic susceptibility. Using a genome-wide association study (GWAS) approach, we identified a genetic variant in TCERG1L (rs893507) to be associated with hearing loss in 390 non-cranial irradiated, cisplatin-treated children with cancer...

PurposeAn increasing number of childhood cancer survivors are using assisted reproductive technologies (ART) to overcome treatment-related fertility impairment. We report perinatal and health outcomes of offspring born to survivors following ART.Methods The FeCt Multicenter Offspring Study surveyed the health of offspring of childhood cancer surviv...

STUDY QUESTION Which chemotherapeutic agents and body site-specific radiation fields are dose-dependently associated with an increased risk of fertility impairment in long-term female childhood, adolescent and young adulthood (CAYA) cancer survivors? SUMMARY ANSWER Busulfan, lower abdominal radiotherapy (RT) and total body irradiation (TBI) seem t...

Patients with childhood, adolescent, and young adult cancer who will be treated with gonadotoxic therapies are at increased risk for infertility. Many patients and their families desire biological children but effective communication about treatment-related infertility risk and procedures for fertility preservation does not always happen. The PanCa...

Background Survival after childhood cancer has improved to more than 80% during the last few years, leading to an increased number of childhood cancer survivors. Cancer itself, or its treatment, may cause chronic health conditions, including somatic and mental sequelae, which may affect survivors’ health-related quality of life (HRQoL). Objective...

Yolk-sac tumours (YSTs), a germ cell tumour subtype, occur in newborns and infants as well as in young adults of age 14-44 years. In clinics, adult patients with YSTs face a poor prognosis, as these tumours are often therapy-resistant and count for many germ cell tumour related deaths. So far, the molecular and (epi)genetic mechanisms that control...

The specific group of long-term survivors of younger ages, like children, adolescents and young adults, are constantly growing due to enhanced diagnostic tools and more effective treatment strategies. Thus their specific survivorship care needs to be addressed in a holistic approach. Whilst a lot of scientific work has focused on somatic late effec...

INTRODUCTION The prognostic impact of tumour marker (TM) decline rate has been demonstrated for extracranial poor prognostic non-seminomatous/germinomatous germ cell tumours (NGGCT). The current series aimed to assess if this finding can be applied to intracranial primaries. METHODS Patients were retrieved from the SIOP-CNS-GCT-96 database. They w...

BACKGROUND There are global variations in radiotherapy approaches for icGCT. An understanding of patterns of disease recurrence correlated with radiation techniques and doses is important in standardising and improving the quality of radiotherapy using high-precision techniques. METHODS AND RESULTS Data from 20 patients with tumour recurrence afte...

INTRODUCTION The SIOP-CNS-GCT-96 trial demonstrated excellent survival for patients with germinoma. Localised patients received either craniospinal irradiation (CSI) 24Gy plus tumour-bed-boost 16 Gy or 2xcarboPEI chemotherapy (carboplatin/etoposide alternating with etoposide/ifosfamide) and focal-radiotherapy 40 Gy. Following trial closure, whole-v...

INTRODUCTION CNS germinoma, being marker-negative, are diagnosed by surgical biopsy. Here we evaluate the perioperative status and postoperative complications of patients with pineal germinoma who underwent a primary biopsy or resection, treated according to SIOP CNS GCT 96. METHODS 235 patients with histologically confirmed germinoma were register...

SIOP CNS GCT II aimed to establish if 24Gy Whole Ventricular Radiotherapy (WVRT) in localised germinoma is sufficient for tumour control. After central review of radiological response after ‘CarboPEI’ chemotherapy, patients in complete remission (CR) were consolidated with 24Gy WVRT. Between 2/2012 and 7/2018, 182 patients from 8 European countries...

Analysis of CNS MMGCT with AFP >1000 ng/ml (serum and/or CSF) at diagnosis, treated on trial in SIOP-CNS-GCT-96, revealed an inferior prognosis (32% 5-year progression-free survival) compared with AFP <1000 ng/ml (76%). As this patient group is small, to evaluate a bigger cohort, we revisited all patients treated according to SIOP-CNS-GCT-96, who w...

Background: Long-term treatment-related toxicity may substantially impact well-being, quality of life (QoL), and health of children/adolescents with brain tumors (CBTs). Strategies to reduce toxicity include pencil beam scanning (PBS) proton therapy (PT). This study aims to report clinical outcomes and QoL in PBS-treated CBTs. Procedure: We retr...

Germ-cell tumours (GCT) comprise a heterogeneous group of tumours, occurring mainly in children, adolescents, and young adults, which vary by site, range of histological subtypes, and behaviour. Gonadal sites, testes, and ovaries account for around two thirds of extracranial GCT, the remainder occurring at extragonadal sites. Histological component...

The European Society of Gynaecological Oncology and the European Society for Paediatric Oncology jointly developed clinically relevant and evidence-based guidelines for the management of adolescents and young adults aged 15 to 25 years with non-epithelial ovarian cancers, including malignant ovarian germ cell tumours, sex cord-stromal tumours, and...

BACKGROUND Survival after childhood cancer has improved to more than 80% during the last years, leading to an increased number of childhood cancer survivors. Cancer itself or its treatment may cause chronic health conditions, including somatic and mental sequelae, which may impact survivors’ Health related Quality of Life (HRQoL). OBJECTIVE The pr...

2503 Background: CNS-NGGCT are rare tumors that have been successfully treated with multimodal therapies. With a 5-yr EFS and OS of 72-84% and 82-93% respectively, surveillance and relapse detection is essential. Tumor marker (TM) elevation has proven to be a highly sensitive method of relapse detection in extra-cranial-NGGCT. We aim to determine t...

Outcome in high-risk patients with refractory or relapsed germ cell tumours (GCT) remains poor. Novel strategies enhancing therapeutic efficacy whilst limiting therapeutic burden are warranted, yet immunotherapy approaches geared towards activating endogenous antitumor responses have not been successful thus far. Redirection of cytotoxic effector c...

Background: Craniopharyngioma is an embryonic tumor of low-grade malignancy. Children and adolescents with this diagnosis are analyzed concerning quality of life (QoL) and (progression-free) survival within the project KRANIOPHARYNGEOM 2007. Methods: The prospective, multi-center project consists of a randomized, unblinded substudy with adaptive de...

Germ cell tumours (GCTs) are the most common solid malignancies in young men. Although high cure rates can be achieved, metastases, resistance to cisplatin-based therapy and late toxicities still represent a lethal threat, arguing for the need of new therapeutic options. In this study, we analysed the potential of cyclin-dependent kinase 4/6 (CDK4/...