Tumor Grows Hair and Teeth Inside Child’s Brain

Doctors at the Shaare Zedek Medical Centre in Jerusalem removed a life-threatening tumor from a child’s brain after it started growing hair and teeth.

An Israeli couple noticed a lump on their son’s head, so they took him in for a checkup.

After multiple CT scans, Dr. Lena Cherkov, a pediatric neuro-radiologist at the Wilf Children’s hospital in Jerusalem, discovered a mass on the child’s brain. The tumor was posing a serious threat to the boy’s life.

“We responded very quickly because we saw the pressure on the brain stem and a build-up of fluids that could certainly have been life-threatening,” Dr. Gustavo Rajz, director of Shaare Zedek’s Department of Pediatric Neurosurgery of the Helmsley Neurological Institute, said.  He identified the tumor as a teratoma.

Teratoma is a type of germ cell tumor that may develop tissues such as hair, teeth, muscle, and bones.

According to doctors, the tumor was putting serious pressure on the boy’s brain. They scheduled an operation as soon as possible.

After hours of an intense and complex operation, doctors successfully removed the tumor.

The team was shocked after seeing hair, tissue, and teeth on the tumor.

“This is an extremely rare type of mass that we see maybe once a decade,” Rajz said.

After the surgery, the boy remained under observation for a few days before being released from the hospital.