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. 2018 Jun;16(1):69-72.

TERATOMA IN A TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA: A FIFTEENYEAR RETROSPECTIVE STUDY AT FETHA, ABAKALIKI, EBONYI STATE

F Edegbe  1 , C O Okani  2 , A A Obasi  3 , P O Ezeonu  4
Affiliations

TERATOMA IN A TERTIARY HOSPITAL IN SOUTH-EAST NIGERIA: A FIFTEENYEAR RETROSPECTIVE STUDY AT FETHA, ABAKALIKI, EBONYI STATE

F Edegbe et al. Ann Ib Postgrad Med. 2018 Jun.

Abstract

Any neoplastic growth within a tissue or an organ harboring components derived from more than one germ layer is called a teratoma. Teratoma may be monodermal or polydermal in origin and they can also be classified as mature or immature teratomas. In a retrospective study of teratomas histologically diagnosed in the Department of Pathology, Federal Teaching Hospital Abakaliki (FETHA), Ebonyi State, the entire specimens received at the Department for histological assessment over a fifteen-year period (2000-2014), was 6,548. However, only 28 (0.4%) of the entire specimens represented teratoma. Twenty five (89.3%) of the teratomas were females and only 3(10.7%) were males, giving a male to female gender ratio of 1:8.3. The most common site of occurrence was the ovary accounting for 18(64.3%) followed by the sacrococccyx representing 4(14.3%) cases. All the 28(100%) cases of teratomas were benign neoplasm (mature cystic teratomas) containing two or three germ cell layers with one of the cases noted as a giant teratoma. We observed an important bimodal age distributions; with a first peak occurring between 0-10 years (in the first decade of life) and a second peak (in the 3rd decade) between 20-30 years of age.

Keywords: Germ cells; Teratoma.

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Figures

Fig. 1:
Fig. 1:
Age and sex distribution of patients with teratomas
Fig. 2:
Fig. 2:
Scale is in millimeter, Gross picture of the largest sacral mature cystic teratoma in a three-week old child measuring 30cm x 30cm x 10cm
Fig. 3:
Fig. 3:
Various sites of teratomas
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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