Immature Gastric Teratoma in Infancy: Report of a Case

Abstract

A 40-day-old female infant suffered from severe dyspnea with marked pallor of the face and body for four days. Physical examination revealed a huge tumor in the left upper quadrant of the abdomen and serious anemia with the hemoglobin level as low as 2.6 g/dl. After supportive management, computed tomography (CT) demonstrated a gastric teratoma with extragastric and intragastric components. Complete excision of the tumor with primary closure of the wound was performed smoothly, and the recovery was uneventful. Pathological examination confirmed the diagnosis of triphasic teratoma. There was a large amount of immature neuroepithelial tissue occupying more than three low power fields in any slide, which suggested grade III immature teratoma. At the time of this writing, two years after the operation, there is no evidence of tumor recurrence. Although the outcome of grade III immature teratoma is generally regarded poor, complete tumor excision with a free margin, as was done for our patient, is adequate according to the literature, for both mature and immature gastric teratoma, and most of the patients will be disease-free all lifetime.