Intrapulmonary mature teratoma: case report of an exceptional entity

Abstract

Teratomas are tumors consisting of tissues derived from more than one germ cell line. Criteria for pulmonary origin are exclusion of a gonadal or other extra-gonadal primary site and origin entirely within the lung. The intrapulmonary teratoma (IPT) is a rare type of teratoma extra-gonadal which often presents with nonspecific symptoms and wrongly can be diagnosed as other diseases. Here we report a patient with IPT who was initially misdiagnosed as pulmonary aspergilloma. We report a case of mature pulmonary teratoma in a 22-year-old male with no toxic habits, treated in 2007 for smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis, presenting progressively for 1 year, with a left chest pain, intermittent episodes of cough and hemoptysis, and dyspnea. A computed tomography (CT) chest scan showed a heterogeneous tumor with cavitary lesion in the left upper lobe. The patient had a left upper lobectomy with complete resection of the mediastinal mass. The patient is currently in good general condition, and does not present any complications or recurrence and thyroid function was normal during the long term follow up. Preoperative diagnosis of IPT is not always possible and is usually misdiagnosed early on due to its rarity, nonspecific and vague symptoms, normal lab results, and indistinguishable chest x-ray results. We report a case of intrapulmonary teratoma in a 22-year-old man and review the relevant literature.