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Unlabelled: Germ cell neoplasms which have the potentials of differentiating along somatic cell lines are regarded as teratomas. They are mature teratomas when tissues are fully differentiated and immature teratomas when primitive or immature tissue elements are present. In this retrospective study, we analyzed all the renal biopsies submitted to the Department of Pathology of the University College Hospital, Ibadan, South-West Nigeria over a thirty one year period (1981-2011). Over the period, a total of 119,986 specimens were received for histological assessment and only 1,027 (0.86%) represented kidney specimens which included all the trucut biopsies and nephrectomies. Two (0.19%) of the nephrectomy specimens from a one-year and a five-month old children were diagnosed as mature and immature cystic teratoma respectively. The sample from the one-year-old child was heavy (810 g), cystic and measured 17 x 10 x 10 cm. On microscopy, the tissues were predominantly mature neural tissue, mature skeletal muscle, cartilage and foci of normal kidney tissue while the sample from the five month old child was almost double the weight of the former (1600 g) and measured 18 x 14 x 9 cm. Cut sections revealed cystic and solid areas comprising bone, glial tissue, primitive neuroectodermal tissue, choroid plexus, immature cartilage, skeletal muscle, fat, intestinal tissue, breast structures,odontogenic and squamous epithelial tissues on microscopy., Conclusion: Cystic teratoma is a rare occurrence in kidneys.

Background: Teratoma is a rare developmental neoplasm that arises from totipotential tumor stem cells. Head and neck teratomas constitute about 10% of all cases. Only two cases of mature teratoma of the nasal septum have previously been documented in the world literature., Case Presentation: We present a case of histologically confirmed mature teratoma arising from the nasal septum in an eighteen month old Nigerian female who presented with a history of noisy breathing associated with recurrent rhinorrhea since birth. Physical examination revealed obstruction of the right nasal cavity by a pale fleshy mass. She underwent a total surgical excision and to date, after thirty one months follow-up, she is free from recurrence., Conclusion: The prognosis for benign teratoma of the nasal septum is good following total surgical excision.

This is a case of a neonate with a large cervical mass and respiratory distress at birth. Radiological investigations revealed a predominantly solid mass with calcifications and multiple cysts, suggesting a teratoma. Patient died while being prepared for surgery and autopsy confirmed an immature teratoma. The clinical and pathological characteristics of paediatric cervical teratomas are discussed.

Teratomas accounted for 3.4 cases per 1,000 surgical biopsies received in the Pathology Department of UCH Ibadan, between 1960 and 1985. The commonest site of teratomas was in the ovaries which accounted for 83.2% of the cases, followed by the sacrococcygeal region which accounted for a further 6.3%. Other sites of occurrence included the neck, testes, mediastinum, abdominal cavity and buccal cavity in descending order of frequency. Rare sites of occurrence were extracranial, intracranial, uterine cervix and intraocular regions. There was a female to male ratio of 18 to 1 and the average age of the patients was 25.8 years. Sixty per cent of ovarian and mediastinal teratomas contained hair and sebaceous material permitting their gross identification. Eighty-eight per cent of the teratomas reviewed histologically were classified as mature, a further 8% were immature, and 4% were malignant.

Childhood teratomas are uncommon neoplasms worldwide. They are nonetheless important because their exact histogenesis has not yet been resolved. The weight of the evidence points to a germ cell origin for these neoplasms. Eighteen percent of 407 teratomas reviewed in the Department of Pathology, University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria, between 1960 and 1985 occurred in children up to 15 years of age. There was a bimodal peak age incidence among these children, the first being due to sacrococcygeal and the second to ovarian teratomas. The female to male ratio was 5:1. The two most common sites of occurrence were the sacrococcygeal region and the ovaries. Eighty-one percent of all childhood teratomas were mature, 15% were immature, and 4% were malignant. Both malignant neoplasms arose in the sacrococcygeal region and occurred in patients relatively older than those with benign sacrococcygeal teratomas. These two malignant teratomas contained yolk sac elements.