A Case Report of Intrapulmonary Teratoma in the Right Upper Lung Zone in a 35-year-old Female Patient

Abstract

Teratomas are rare germ cell tumors usually found in the gonads. Extra-gonadal teratomas are especially rare, mostly occurring in the thorax. Only a few cases of intrathoracic teratomas have been reported in medical literature and most reported were located in the mediastinum. An additional intrathoracic location for teratoma occurrence is in the pulmonary system, most commonly in the upper lobe of the left lung. In this report, we describe a case of a 35-year-old woman diagnosed with an intrapulmonary mature teratoma found in the right upper lobe. A 35-year-old Saudi female presented with a chief complaint of a three-week history of dry cough. Chest X-ray revealed a right-sided para-pericardial mass in the anterior mediastinum and a significant decrease in the size of the right middle lobe opacity. Subsequently, a chest computed tomography (CT) was performed and revealed a cystic mass in the right lung, which required removal by surgical intervention. The surgery was performed via a thoracoscopic approach and the tumor was excised with no complications. Intrapulmonary teratomas (IPT) usually present with vague and non-specific symptoms such as cough, hemoptysis, and chest pain. It is a rare condition without diagnostic features detected preoperatively, save for trichoptysis which is reported in approximately 13% of the cases. We report a rare appearance of mature IPT in the right upper lung zone which is an unusual location.

Keywords: intrapulmonary; mature teratoma; teratoma.

Figure 1. Chest X-ray revealed a right-sided para-pericardial mass in the anterior mediastinum and a significant decrease in the size of the right middle lobe opacity

Figure 2. Computed tomography (CT) of the chest revealed a cystic mass in the right upper lung zone