Archives of the AFIP -- RadioGraphics 1995; 15: 1437-1455

Figure Legend | Panel A | Panel B

Figure 6: Intracranial mature teratoma in a 16-year-old boy. Panel A Photomicrograph (original magnification, X400; hematoxylin-eosin stain) of a portion of the lining from an intracranial teratoma reveals only mature adult skin tissues, consisting of squamous epithelium and dermal appendages (sweat and sebaceous glands). Because all these skin structures arise from a single embryonic layer (ectoderm), this portion of the lesion is monodermal. If no other evidence of histologic diversity were present, these findings would be indistinguishable from those of a dermoid inclusion cyst. Panel B Photomicrograph (original magnification, X400; hematoxylin-eosin stain) of another portion of the same lesion shows mature, well-differentiated tissues, with ectodermal elements of skin and cartilage (*), which is derived from mesoderm. Thus, this section of the lesion shows the histologic diversity characteristic of a teratoma, yet elements from only two germ layers are represented.

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