Immature nasopharyngeal teratoma with prenatal diagnosis: Case report and review of the literature

Objectives: To report the case of a pregnant woman with prenatal diagnosis of fetal immature nasopharyngeal teratoma, and to conduct a review of the literature describing the prognosis of this condition.

Materials and methods: We report the case of a 27-year-old pregnant woman who received care at the Obstetrics and Gynecology Unit of a reference hospital in Bogotá (Colombia) because of a finding during a prenatal visit of evidence of polyhydramnios, secondary to a nasopharyngeal teratoma. A literature search was conducted in the Medline vía PubMed, Scopus, SciELO and ScienceDirect databases, restricted by language (English and Spanish) and date of publication (January 2001 to January 2021). Case reports and case series covering the prognosis of this condition were included.

Results: Overall, 168 titles were retrieved, 55 of which met the inclusion criteria. Perinatal outcomes for a total of 58 fetuses with a diagnosis of immature nasopharyngeal teratoma detected during the prenatal stage were reported. In the identified cases, perinatal mortality was 25.4 % and the percentage of fetal demise was close to 3.6 %.

Conclusions: Immature nasopharyngeal teratoma is an infrequent condition. The available literature suggests that fetal prognosis depends on the degree of compromise of intracranial structures and the possibility of resecting the lesion. Further studies are needed to assess the prognosis of fetuses with immature nasopharyngeal teratoma.