An unusual fetus with complete absence of thoracic, lumbar and sacral vertebrae, bilateral renal agenesis, VSD, meningomyelocele, imperforate anus, and teratoma

Cervicothoracic nonterminal myelocystocele with mature teratoma

Nonterminal myelocystocele is a rare type of spinal dysraphism characterized by a closed defect with an underlying CSF-filled cyst, either contiguous with the central spinal canal or attached to the spinal cord by a fibrovascular stalk. The authors report the unusual case of a neonate with a prenatal diagnosis of cervicothoracic nonterminal myelocystocele who underwent postnatal surgical untethering of the lesion. Pathological analysis of the excised lesion revealed neuroglial tissue with an ependymal lining associated with a mature teratoma. Three months after surgery, the patient has normal lower-extremity sensorimotor function and no evidence of bowel or bladder dysfunction. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first report of a patient with a nonterminal myelocystocele found to have an associated mature teratoma.

Teratoma inside a myelomeningocele

OBJECT

A myelomeningocele (MMC) can be associated with paraplegia, bladder and bowel incontinence, Chiari malformation Type II, and hydrocephalus. The coincidence of an MMC and a neoplasm is rare, and only limited reports on the concurrence of a teratoma within an MMC have been published.

METHODS

A retrospective study was performed using the records of 330 children who underwent operations to correct an MMC at the Children's Hospital Medical Center in Tehran between January 2001 and June 2005. The postoperative histopathological assessments in 15 (4.5%) of these patients revealed evidence of a teratoma inside the MMC. The age of these patients at admission ranged from 2 days to 2 years (median 30 days). Neurological findings were normal in all patients except for three with lower-extremity weakness or paralysis. Hydrocephalus was detected in six patients. Physical appearance of the teratoma in all cases included cystic or solid soft-tissue masses in the dorsal midline area, covered with abnormal rudimentary skin. Pedunculated skin tags, a primitive genitalia-like appendage, dermal sinus, a human tail, and cutaneous stigmata such as color changes, hemangioma, dysplastic skin, and tufts of hair around the mass were occasionally observed.

CONCLUSIONS

The special feature of a protruding fingerlike appendage or intraoperative detection of a cystic portion of an MMC without direct connection to the spinal canal can be possible signs of teratoma concurrent with an MMC. Teratoma inside an MMC is a benign neoplasm, without any recurrence after standard surgery for an MMC.

Diaphanospondylodysostosis (DSD): Confirmation of a recessive disorder with abnormal vertebral ossification and nephroblastomatosis

We report on four patients from three families, with similar radiological findings: absent (or severely delayed) ossification of vertebral bodies and associated anomalies. The babies were stillborn or died soon after birth of respiratory insufficiency. Two patients are sibs (female and male) born to first cousin Malian parents. The two others were non-consanguineous. This perinatally lethal entity comprises short neck, short wide thorax, and normally shaped limbs. Associated, inconstant anomalies are myelomeningocele, cystic kidneys with nephrogenic rests (in the sibs), and cleft palate. Radiologically, the hallmarks are absence of ossification of the vertebral bodies and sacrum, abnormal position of the vertebral pedicles, which are lamellar and angulated, ribbon-like ribs reduced in number, narrow pelvis, upward widening of the iliac wings, and unusual tilt of the ischiopubic rami, contrasting with the normal appendicular skeleton. Maroteaux briefly described one of the patients in the 2002 edition of "Maladies osseuses de l'enfant" and three sibs with similar renal and radiological findings were reported in 2003 in this Journal. Combined with the latter cases, these four new patients allow delineation of a specific lethal AR syndrome with ossification defect of the axial skeleton and renal dysplasia. We propose to name this entity diaphanospondylodysostosis.