Placental teratoma is extremely rare and a few cases have been described. Because of
the extreme paucity of material, there is the uncertainty of origin and the apparent
controversy regarding diagnostic criteria. We experienced a case of placental teratoma
and reported here with brief review of literatures.
This case was a primigravida aged 26 years. At 42 weeks of gestation, she delivered
3150gm normal male baby and the tumor was noted between chorionic and amnionic
membrane. The tumor was oval round and completely covered with whitish wrinkled
skin except the stalk portion. Microscopically, the tumor was surfaced by mature skin
with skin appendages. Deeper tissue was composed of a variety of mature structures
including adipose tissue, smooth muscle, lymphoid tissue, blood vessels, cartilage and
bony tissue, nerve fibers, ganglion cells and glial tissue.
The distinction between the tumor and fetus amorphus was made on the absence of
umbilical cord and the total organization failure of the tissue, in particular axial skeleton.
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