This phase II trial studies how well chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy work in treating younger patients with newly diagnosed central nervous system germ cell tumors that have not spread to other parts of the brain, spinal canal, or body (localized). Drugs used as chemotherapy, such as carboplatin, etoposide, and ifosfamide, work in different ways to stop the growth of tumor cells, either by killing the cells, by stopping them from dividing, or by stopping them from spreading. Radiation therapy uses high-energy x rays to kill tumor cells. Giving chemotherapy followed by radiation therapy may kill more tumor cells.

PRIMARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To determine, as measured by the 3-year progression-free survival (PFS) rate and patterns of failure, whether dose and volume of irradiation can be safely reduced to 30.6 Gy whole ventricular-field irradiation (WVI) plus 23.4 Gy primary site boost instead of 36 Gy craniospinal irradiation (CSI) plus primary site boost in the subgroup of children and young adults (ages 3 to =< 21 years) with localized nongerminomatous germ cell tumor (NGGCT) who have a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and tumor marker criteria (cerebrospinal fluid [CSF] and serum) for confirmed complete response (CR) or partial response (PR) to induction chemotherapy and negative serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) tumor markers OR in patients who have less than a PR after induction chemotherapy with negative tumor markers who undergo a second-look surgery and are found to have only mature teratoma, residual scar or fibrosis and fit the definition of CR/PR after second-look surgery.

II. To determine, as measured by the 3-year PFS rate and patterns of failure, whether simplified chemotherapy followed by dose-reduced radiation therapy is effective for treating children and young adults (ages 3 to =< 21 years) with localized primary central nervous system (CNS) germinoma who present with serum and/or CSF human chorionic gonadotropin-beta (hCGbeta) =< 50 mIU/mL.

III. To prospectively evaluate and longitudinally model the cognitive, social, and behavioral functioning of children and young adults who are treated with reduced radiation dose and volume of irradiation in Stratum 1 (NGGCT) and with dose-reduced radiation therapy in Stratum 2 (germinoma) using the ALTE07C1 protocol.

SECONDARY OBJECTIVES:

I. To estimate the PFS and overall survival (OS) distributions of patients with NGGCT treated with 30.6 Gy WVI and involved-field radiation therapy (IFR) focal boost to 54 Gy.

II. To estimate the PFS and OS distributions of localized germinoma patients who present with a) serum and/or CSF hCGbeta =< 50 mIU/mL and b) serum and/or CSF hCGbeta > 50 mIU/mL and =< 100 mIU/mL.

OUTLINE:

STRATUM I (NGGCT): Patients receive induction therapy comprising carboplatin intravenously (IV) over 15-60 minutes on day 1 and etoposide IV over 60-120 minutes on days 1-3 of courses 1, 3, and 5. Patients also receive ifosfamide IV over 60 minutes and etoposide over 60-120 minutes on days 1-5 of courses 2, 4, and 6. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 6 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients achieving CR or PR undergo 3-dimensional conformal radiation therapy (3DRT) or intensity modulated radiation therapy (IMRT) once daily (QD) 5 days a week for 6 weeks. Patients with normalization of markers who fail to achieve CR or PR are strongly recommended to undergo second-look surgery. Patients who achieve CR or PR after second-look surgery undergo 3DRT or IMRT QD 5 days a week for 6 weeks.

STRATUM II (GERMINOMA): Patients receive induction therapy comprising carboplatin IV over 15-60 minutes on day 1 and etoposide IV over 60-120 minutes on days 1-3. Treatment repeats every 21 days for 4 courses in the absence of disease progression or unacceptable toxicity. Patients with CR or continued CR (CCR) undergo 3DRT or IMRT QD 5 days a week for 4 weeks. Patients with normalization of markers who fail to achieve CR or PR are strongly recommended to undergo second-look surgery. Patients found to have fibrosis, scar, mature teratoma, or non-viable tumor undergo 3DRT or IMRT QD 5 days a week for 4 weeks. Patients with stable disease (SD) or PR with > 0.5 cm (suprasellar) or > 1 cm (pineal) but =< 1.5 cm residual disease do not undergo second-look surgery and undergo 3DRT or IMRT QD 5 days a week for 4 weeks.

After completion of study treatment, patients are followed up at 3, 6, and 9 months, every 4 months for 24 months, 30 months, 36 months, and then annually for up to 60 months.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Patients must be newly diagnosed with localized primary CNS NGGCT (Stratum 1) or localized primary CNS germinoma (Stratum 2); germ cell tumors located in the suprasellar, pineal, bifocal (pineal + suprasellar) and ventricles are eligible; tumors present in the above mentioned locations and with unifocal parenchymal extension are eligible

  • Stratum 1(NGGCT): Patients must have one of the following criteria:

    • Patients with serum and/or CSF hCGbeta > 100 mIU/mL or any elevation of serum and/or CSF alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) > 10 ng/mL or greater than the institutional normal are eligible, irrespective of biopsy results
    • Patients with any of the following elements on biopsy/resection are eligible, irrespective of serum and/or CSF hCGbeta and AFP levels: endodermal sinus tumor (yolk sac), embryonal carcinoma, choriocarcinoma, malignant/immature teratoma, and mixed GCT with malignant GCT elements

  • Stratum 2 (Germinoma): Patients must have both serum and CSF markers obtained (unless obtaining CSF is medically contraindicated) and must have one of the following criteria to be eligible:

    • Patients with institutional normal AFP (or =< 10 ng/mL if no institutional normal exists) in both serum and CSF (unless medically contraindicated) AND hCGbeta 5 to =< 50 mIU/mL in serum and/or CSF (unless medically contraindicated) (only 1 is required to be elevated) are eligible; no histologic confirmation required
    • Patients with bifocal (pineal + suprasellar) involvement or pineal lesion with diabetes insipidus (D1) AND hCGbeta =< 100 mIU/mL in serum and/or CSF AND institutional normal AFP (or =< 10 ng/mL if no institutional normal exists) in both serum and CSF (unless medically contraindicated) are eligible; no histologic confirmation required
    • Patients with histologically confirmed germinoma or germinoma mixed with mature teratoma and hCGbeta =< 100 mIU/mL in serum and/or CSF and institutional normal AFP (or =< 10 ng/mL if no institutional normal exists) in both serum and CSF (unless medically contraindicated) are eligible

• All patients must have a cranial MRI with and without gadolinium at diagnosis/prior to enrollment; if surgical resection is performed, patients must have pre-operative and post-operative cranial MRI with and without gadolinium; the post-operative brain MRI should be obtained within 72 hours of surgery; if patient has a biopsy only, post-operative cranial MRI is recommended but not required; all patients must have a spine MRI with gadolinium obtained at diagnosis/prior to enrollment; Note: if the spine study is performed for the first time after surgical resection or biopsy, it is recommended to be obtained with and without gadolinium

• Lumbar CSF must be obtained prior to study enrollment unless medically contraindicated; if a patient undergoes surgery and lumbar CSF cannot be obtained at this time, then it should be performed at least 10 days following surgery before study enrollment; false positive cytology can occur within 10 days of surgery; Note: patients with positive CSF cytology obtained prior to 10 days after surgery may have cytology repeated to determine eligibility

• Patients must have CSF tumor markers obtained prior to enrollment unless medically contraindicated; ventricular CSF obtained at the time of CSF diversion procedure (if performed) is acceptable for tumor markers but lumbar CSF is preferred; in case CSF diversion and biopsy/surgery are combined, CSF tumor markers should be collected first

• Patients must be enrolled on ALTE07C1 prior to enrollment on ACNS1123; patients must be enrolled within 31 days of definitive diagnostic surgery (day 0) or clinical diagnosis

• Peripheral absolute neutrophil count (ANC) >= 1,000/uL

• Platelet count >= 100,000/uL (transfusion independent)

• Hemoglobin >= 8.0 g/dL (may receive red blood cell [RBC] transfusions)

• Creatinine clearance or radioisotope glomular filtration rate (GFR) >= 70 mL/min/1.73 m^2 OR serum creatinine based on age/gender as follows:

  • 0.8 mg/dL (2 to < 6 years of age)
  • 1.0 mg/dL (6 to < 10 years of age)
  • 1.2 mg/dL (10 to < 13 years of age)
  • 1.5 mg/dL (male) and 1.4 mg/dL (female) (13 to < 16 years of age)
  • 1.7 mg/dL (male) and 1.4 mg/dL (female) (>= 16 years of age)

• Total bilirubin =< 1.5 times upper limit of normal (ULN) for age

• Serum glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase (SGOT) (aspartate aminotransferase [AST]) and serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) (alanine aminotransferase [ALT]) < 2.5 times ULN

• Patients with seizure disorder may be enrolled if well controlled

• Patients must not be in status, coma, or assisted ventilation prior to study enrollment

Exclusion Criteria:

• Patients with mature teratoma or completely resected immature teratoma with normal tumor markers are not eligible
• Patients with tumors located outside the ventricles (basal ganglia, thalamus) are not eligible
• Patients with metastatic disease by cranial or spinal MRI evaluation or CSF cytology (unless medically contraindicated) are not eligible
• Patients must not have received any prior tumor-directed therapy other than surgical intervention and corticosteroids
• Female patients who are pregnant are ineligible
• Lactating females are not eligible unless they have agreed not to breastfeed their infants
• Female patients of childbearing potential are not eligible unless a negative pregnancy test result has been obtained
• Sexually active patients of reproductive potential are not eligible unless they have agreed to use an effective contraceptive method for the duration of their study participation
• All patients and/or their parents or legal guardians must sign a written informed consent
• All institutional, Food and Drug Administration (FDA), and National Cancer Institute (NCI) requirements for human studies must be met