Fetal Cervical Teratomas: Etiology, diagnosis, and Treatment Options |Biomedgrid

Cervical teratomas are rare fetal tumors with a frequency of 1 in 20,000 to 1 in 40,000 live births, with a female-to-male ratio of 3:1 [1]. In a series of 1,253 teratomas of different types [2,3], only 6 (0.47%) were classified as epignathus [4]. Histologically, they are benign tumours formed by the three germ layers (ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm). While the majority of fetal teratomas manifest themselves in the coccyx region, cervical teratomas represent only about 6% of congenital teratomas. Moreover, there are some cases in the literature where cervical teratomas showed a malignant tendency. Thus Thurkow et al. [6] reported an extremely rare case of malignant teratoma of the neck, with mature and immature metastatic lesions in the lungs, in an immature fetus [5]. Further, Bauman and Nerlich reported a metastazing cervical teratoma of the fetus [6]. Additionally, there is another report of six malignant teratomas in the literature so far [7].