ORIGINAL ARTICLES   

Journal of Neurosurgical Sciences 2003 June;47(2):95-100

Copyright © 2004 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Clinicopathological study of spinal teratomas. A series of 10 case

Sharma M. C. ¹, Aggarwal M. ¹, Ralte A. M. ¹, Vaishya V. ², Suri A. ², Gupta V. ³, Sarkar C. ¹

¹ Department of Pathology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India 2 Department of Neurosurgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India 3 Department of Neuroradiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India

Aim. Sacrococcygeal terat­o­mas are com­mon in chil­dren, but intra­me­dul­lary spi­nal terat­o­mas are ­rare. We ­report a ­series of 10 cas­es of spi­nal terat­o­mas, ­which, to the ­best of our knowl­edge, is the larg­est ­series of intra­me­dul­lary terat­o­mas.
Methods. During a peri­od of 15 ­years (1987-2001) 10 cas­es of spi­nal terat­o­mas ­were diag­nosed in our depart­ment. The clin­i­cal pro­file, radio­log­i­cal ­data and his­to­path­o­log­i­cal ­slides ­were ­reviewed.
Results. Age ­ranged ­from 10 ­months to 51 ­years (­mean 23.5 ­years) ­with ­male pre­dom­i­nence. Duration of symp­toms var­ied ­from 5 ­months to 20 ­years (­mean 4.1 ­years). The ­most com­mon symp­toms ­were weak­ness of low­er ­limbs, back­ache and uri­nary blad­der involve­ment. Radiologically, ­these ­were het­er­og­e­nous ­lesions ­with fat sig­nal and are­as of cal­cifi­ca­tion. Surgery is the treat­ment of ­choice. Only 1 ­case ­recurred ­after 9 ­years of oper­a­tion.
Conclusion. Although ­there are no spe­cif­ic fea­tures on imag­ing of intra­me­dul­lary terat­o­mas, sol­id and cys­tic mor­phol­o­gy, fat sig­nal and are­as of cal­cifi­ca­tion are ­some of the help­ful fea­tures. Most of ­these ­lesions are diag­nosed on his­to­path­o­log­i­cal exam­ina­tion ­after sur­gery. Surgery is the treat­ment of the ­choice.