Intramedullary cervical teratoma in an adult.

BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT

Mature teratomas are extremely rare spinal tumors, and in the cervical spine presentation in an adult it is even more infrequent. To the best of our knowledge, only five previous intramedullary teratomas in an adult cervical spine have been reported.

PURPOSE

Here, we present another case of a cervical intramedullary mature teratoma in an adult and review the literature.

STUDY DESIGN AND SETTING

Case report and review of the literature.

PATIENT SAMPLE

Thirty-four-year old man with initial symptoms of numbness of his left fingers, and later brachialgia of the whole arm. The diagnosis from initial manifestation of symptoms was relatively long (11 years).

METHOD

Case review and Medline/Internet search using key word adult, teratoma, cervical spine, and intramedullary.

RESULT

Case report presented. Only five cases of intramedullary cervical teratoma were found in the world literature.

CONCLUSION

Cervical intramedullary teratomas in adults are rare entities. The indolent nature of the condition often leads to late presentation. Surgery can result in good outcome and complete cure. This is, to our knowledge, only the sixth case of cervical teratoma in an adult.