De novo spinal teratoma after treatment of an intracranial germ cell tumor

The authors report an extremely rare case of de novo spinal teratoma after treatment for intracranial germ cell tumor, A 17-year-old male developed pa in of bilateral lower extremities and urinary retention 18 months after com plete remission of intracranial mixed germ cell tumor, Magnetic resonance i maging revealed a huge spinal tumor associated with spina bifida occulta, T otal resection was performed, and histogenetical findings led to the diagno sis of a mature teratoma with normal p16 gene, whereas analysis of intracra nial tumor showed p16 deletion, The spinal anomaly and genetic analysis str ongly suggest that the spinal teratoma was a de novo tumor rather than a me tastasis or dissemination of the original intracranial germ cell tumor, Cop yright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG. Basel.