THYROID CERVICAL TERATOMAS IN CHILDREN - IMMUNOHISTOCHEMICAL STUDIES FOR SPECIFIC THYROID EPITHELIAL-CELL MARKERS

Pathological and immunohistochemical findings for specific thyroid epi thelial cell markers in thyroid/cervical teratomas from four children are reported. All tumors showed components from the three germinal cel l layers. Neoplastic thyroglobulin-immunoreactive thyroid follicles oc curred in three intrathyroid teratomas, but the findings were negative in a cervical teratoma in which evidence of its thyroid origin could not be ascertained. As previously suggested on histological grounds, t hyroid tissue, other than normal trapped thyroid follicles, is not an infrequent component of cervical teratomas. We found no evidence to su pport an ultimobranchial origin for these tumors, as previously sugges ted by Roediger et al. (19), because no calcitonin immunoreaction was observed.