Teratocarcinosarcoma of the nasal cavity - Report of a case showing favorable prognosis

We report a very rare case of teratocarcinosarcoma of the nasal cavity show ing a favorable prognosis. The patient was a 66-year-old mall with a mass c ompletely obstructing the right nasal cavity. Subsequently, extirpation of the mass and Denker-Watsuji operation were performed, and the patient was t reated with a combination of radiation therapy and chemotherapy. Neither re currence nor distant metastasis was observed during follow-up lasting 30 mo nths. Histologic examination of the resected mass revealed several tissue e lements including columnar and squamous epithelia with atypia, smooth muscl e cells with rare mitotic activity, and neuroectodermal tissue, The glandul ar epithelium and smooth muscle cells were reminiscent of a primitive intes tinal organoid structure, suggestive of teratomatous tumorigenesis. Our cas e and a review of the literature indicate that the absence of invasiveness to the stroma or surrounding tissue is closely related to a favorable progn osis.