Pembrolizumab Failure in an Aggressive, Platinum-Resistant Primary Mediastinal Yolk Sac Tumor With Rapid Metastatic Dissemination, Spinal Cord Compression, and a Fatal Outcome. (PubMed, Cureus)
We report the case of a 26-year-old man with a primary mediastinal yolk sac tumor who progressed despite multimodal therapy, including etoposide, ifosfamide, and cisplatin chemotherapy, high-dose carboplatin and etoposide with autologous stem cell transplantation, gemcitabine and paclitaxel, surgical debulking, and radiation therapy. No further disease-directed therapies were available, and he ultimately died from progressive metastatic disease. This case highlights the aggressive biology of platinum-resistant primary mediastinal yolk sac tumors, illustrates primary resistance to programmed death-1 inhibition, and underscores the urgent need for more effective salvage strategies in this high-risk population.