A special case of intramedullary teratoma in an adult. Literature review

Spinal teratomas that occur in adulthood are rare. The most accepted theory is that of a disembryogenic origin, but in this case we present the theory of misplaced germ cells.

We present a 54-year-old male with saddle hypoesthesia, 3/5 paraesthesia of the lower extremities, urinary incontinence, loss of anal sphincter tone, and patellar and achilles hyporeflexia, of 10 months’ evolution. The MRI showed a heterogeneous, cystic and solid intramedullary lesion with defined edges. Laminoplasty surgery of L2 to L4 and complete resection of the lesion was performed. The histopathological study found a mature teratoma.

The incidence of intraspinal teratomas is very low. There are two theories: the disembryogenic theory (most accepted) and the misplaced germ cell theory (our case). This pathogenesis of teratoma formation involves a niche of pluripotent cells from the primitive knot or a caudal cell mass that may precede the formation of a dysraphism. In this modified theory, teratoma growth sometimes causes disruption of the development field and dysraphism.