Assessment of immature teratoma by 18F-FDG PET/CT

Teratomas are the most frequent extra-gonadal non-seminomatous germ cell tumors (NSGCTs). Retroperitoneum is the third most common site for teratomas and 30–40% of them may have immature tissue. The use of 18F-FDG PET in NSGCTs has been recently investigated. Here we report a 22 year-old male patient with metastatic immature teratoma, followed by PET/CT according to the existence of 18F-FDG avid metastatic lesions. According to our experience, functional imaging with PET/CT has an additive effect to anatomical imaging modalities in NSGCT patients when the tumoral tissue contains more primitive immature elements.