Diagnosis and management of a rare case of fetal mediastinal teratoma without non immunological hydrops
Teratomas are the most common fetal neoplasms, and represent 16.6% of all fetal tumours. Mediastinal teratomas usually occur in the anterior mediastinum and their most important clinical consequence is the compression of nearby structures leading to pulmonary hypoplasia, heart failure, fetal hydrops and polyhydramnios. It is generally diffi cult to distinguish between teratomas and other mediastinal space occupying lesions such as congenital cystic adenomatoid malformation, pulmonary sequestration, intrapericardial teratoma, cardiac rhabdomyosarcoma and oesophageal duplication (Gul et al. 2004; Merchant et al. 2005) While ultrasound (US) usually permits adequate visualisation of the mass, the use of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may improve the assessment of the tumour extent, its content and the vascular structures and can distinguish calcifi cations from adipose tissue (Avni et al. 2009) We report a case of a mediastinal teratoma, fi rst diagnosed in the second trimester of pregnancy, complicated later by polyhydramnios without fetal hydrops.
Journal of obstetrics and gynaecology the journal of the Institute of Obstetrics and Gynaecology