In the ovary of a 16-year-old girl, a benign tumor made up of nerve cells was discovered. They formed a cerebellum and a brainstem.
Unique and amazing. As Japanese surgeons were preparing to perform an emergency appendix removal in a 16-year-old girl, they discovered two very specific tumors on her ovaries. With a size of 10 and 5 cm, the two masses were made up of neurons “very differentiated and exceptionally organized” as well as hair, they describe in a report. item appeared in Neuropathology.
Dissection of the largest tumor revealed a brain structure measuring approximately 3 cm covered with a thin layer of bone. The more detailed analysis reveals that the neurons found are Purkinje cells, a cell type only observed in the cerebellum. Usually, this anatomical structure is located under the two hemispheres of the brain.
In addition, doctors indicate that a second mass attached to this mini-cerebellum resembled the brainstem. This region of the brain is an extension of the brain that joins the spinal cord.
Frequent tumors
All the examinations carried out on these clusters of cells confirm that it is a mature teratoma of the ovary. This benign tumor of cystic nature is one of the most frequent tumors in young women. It is formed from pluripotent germ cells present in the ovary which can, at a given moment, differentiate and generate skin, lung, muscle or even bronchial cells.
The peculiarity of the tumor of the young girl is the degree of differentiation of the nervous tissue found. This one had indeed an adult state, which is very rare, underlined the surgeons.
Three months after the operation, the patient was doing well and “no sign of tumor recurrence was observed”. The authors specify, however, that they have not seen him in consultation for 3 years.
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