Placental teratoma: Case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Objective: Placental teratoma is an infrequent benign tumour and there are only a few reports in the world, none of them in Colombia. A case is presented with a review of the literature regarding prenatal and histopathology diagnosis, and prognosis of placental teratoma in pregnancy. Materials and methods: We present the case of a 19 year-old patient in week 32 of gestation who came to the Obstetric Unit at the Hospital Universitario San Rafael, a private Level IV general hospital in Bogotá, Colombia. The patient had a prenatal ultrasound finding of an image of heterogeneous echogenicity in the amniotic cavity. An oval-shaped solid-appearing 5-cm mass was found on the fetal side of the placenta. The histopathology showed findings consistent with placental teratoma. A review of the literature was conducted in the PubMed, Lilacs, SciELO, Ovid, and ScienceDirect databases. Results: Of 10,523 titles found, 23 related to placental teratoma were selected. They were all case reports. The diagnosis of placental teratoma is based on prenatal diagnosis and histopathology; the latter shows mature tissues of the three germinal layers without defined organization. It has a good obstetrical prognosis and does not appear to increase the risk of foetal malformations. Conclusion: Placental teratoma is a tumor of infrequent ocurrence, usually of benign nature. Key words: Placenta, teratoma, neoplasia