Large neonatal sacrococcygeal teratoma in rural Palestine: A case report

The majority of solid tumors in newborns are sacrococcygeal teratomas (SCTs). These tumors originate in the sacrococcygeal region and contain tissue from all three germ layers. Nearly one in every 35,000 to 40,000 live births may be affected. Although the tumor is typically benign, the likelihood of malignant progression increases with the increasing age. The development of a mature teratoma can be attributed to either a pathological transformation of primordial germ cells or the development of a single germ cell tumor following the completion of the first phase of meiosis and the failure of meiosis type 2. Immature teratoma is associated with the malignant transformation of primitive germ cell layers and the renaissance of the primitive node. The diagnosis is not difficult and imaging provides the information to adequately care for affected infants. Histology, morphological categorization, problems such as hemorrhage or rupture, and mass effects are of utmost importance. Imaging features help to distinguish malignant tumors from benign tumors. However, imaging cannot predict the tumor’s histological subtypes. Surgical resection is the primary method of treatment. In this article, we report a case of large neonatal SCT from rural Palestine and treated with resection and flap reconstruction.