Precocious Sexual and Somatic Development in a Male Infant with a Presacral Teratoma Containing Androgen-Producing Tissue

CASES OF teratoma associated with precocious sexual and somatic development are of utmost rarity. In this paper, the literature on teratoma with precocity is reviewed, a unique case of presacral teratoma with androgenic tissue causing precocity is presented and the mechanism by which teratomas cause precocity is discussed. An accurate appraisal of the literature was difficult since some reports of tumors associated with precocity are dated long before the recognition of certain lesions capable of causing precocity such as the interstitial-cell tumor of the testis and the granulosa-cell tumor of the ovary. The proper classification of some tumors seemed impossible to achieve since histological findings were either not given or appeared inadequate. Teratoma with precocity in the male. The only undisputed cases of teratoma associated with precocity seem to be those arising from the pineal gland. The tendency has been to consider factors other than the teratoma itself as responsible for the precocity.