Mystery case: giant mature teratoma of the lateral ventricle in a child.

Abstract

A 3-year-old girl was admitted with a 1-month history of headache. Neurologic examination was normal. Cranial CT revealed a mass with huge calcification in the right lateral ventricle (figure 1A). MRI demonstrated a lesion with low and high signal intensity and heterogeneous enhancement (figure 1, B–D). A right frontal craniotomy was performed. The right ventricle was found to be filled with sebaceous glands, hair, fat globules, a full set of teeth, tongue, and gastrointestinal glands (figure 2, A–D). Histologic examination confirmed a mature teratoma. Postoperative MRI demonstrated total tumor resection (figure 2, E and F). A mature teratoma located in the lateral ventricle with a full set of teeth is extremely rare.1,2