Intrapericardial teratoma in an adult: a rare presentation.

Background. Intrapericardial teratomas are rare and usually present early in infancy or childhood. Procedure. We describe herein a rare case of an adult patient with an intrapericardial teratoma who presented with fever, cardiac arrhythmias, and oppressive substernal chest pain. Preoperative diagnosis was suggested by echocardiography and computerized tomography of the chest. The tumor weighed 530 g and its histologic features were those of a mature cystic teratoma. It was excised totally and 10 years' follow-up revealed no evidence of residual disease. Discussion. Our patient is one of the very few adult patients with intrapericardial teratomas who was treated successfully with surgery. Both echocardiography and tomography of the chest suggested the diagnosis and delineated the relationship of the tumor to the great vessels. Conclusion. The diagnosis of Intrapericardial teratomas is suspected by echocardiography and/or tomography of the chest and confirmed by specific histologic features. These tumors should be excised whenever detected. (C) 1998 Wiley-Liss, Inc.