A Case of Primary Cystic Teratoma in the Rectum

Tsuyoshi Tanaka, Syuichiro Matoba, Toshihito Sawada, Syusuke Haruta, Shigeo Toda, Jin Moriyama, Tsuyoshi Yokoyama, Masaji Hashimoto, Harushi Udagawa and Goro Watanabe

Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Toranomon Hospital

We report the rare case of a 34-year-old woman with primary cystic teratoma of the rectum, pinpointed in a colonoscopy. A tumor with a hair ball that fled easily was found in the anterior rectum about 8 cm from the anal verge in colonoscopy. Magnetic resonance imaging showed a tumor protruding from the anterior wall of the rectum to ventral side. The tumor showed high intensity in T1-weighted imaging, and low intensity in T2-weighted imaging, which was markedly enhanced in diffusion imaging. Laboratory findings showed anemia, and poor nutrition. At laparoscopy, the tumor was found at Douglas fossa with highly adhesion with uterus, necessitating open total uterectomy and low anterior resection. The tumor was resected en-block with the uterus and rectum. Histopathological findings showed cystic teratoma ruptured into the rectum from the rectal wall.

Key words
teratoma, dermoid cyst, rectum

Reprint requests
Tsuyoshi Tanaka Department of Gastroenterological Surgery, Toranomon Hospital
2-2-2 Toranomon, Minato-ku, 105-8470 JAPAN

Accepted
June 18, 2008

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