CONGENITAL IMMATURE TERATOMA OF THE FETAL BRAIN

Congenital intracranial tumors are very rare and only account for 0.5- 1.5% of all childhood brain tumors. Even rarer are those with prenatal manifestation. The most common of these present at birth are teratoma s, which show divergent differentiation with 90% of them containing ti ssues from all three germ layers. We report a rare case of an intraute rine congenital immature teratoma in a female fetus at 23 weeks of ges tation, which was sonographically diagnosed in vivo by detection of th e tumor and associated craniomegaly. Because of the poor prognosis, te rmination of the pregnancy was induced by Rivanol instillation. The ce rebral tumor was confirmed at autopsy and was not associated with any other malformations. Histological and immunohistochemical features of this tumor are presented.