Teratoma of the spinal cord. Report of a case and review of the literature.

Abstract

A 6-week-old infant had a teratoma that involved the entire spinal cord. No reports of another such extensive teratoma of the spinal cord can be found in the literature. We postulate that an embryonic rest was incorporated into the spinal canal and, when removed from its normal inducer tissue, grew haphazardly throughout the spinal cord.