A case of intraocular yolk sac tumor in a child and its pathogenesis.
While yolk sac tumor is one of the most common malignant germ cell tumors occurring in young children, it is rarely found in extragonadal sites. We report a case of intraocular yolk sac tumor in a 4-year-old boy. The diagnosis was confirmed by histologic examination and by the rapid normalization of serum alpha-fetoprotein level following enucleation. We propose that yolk sac cells can potentially migrate into the eye at 22 days of embryonic life during neural tube formation, when the head and tail of the neuropore open contemporaneously and communicate with the amniotic cavity.
Fujino
Takahiro
T
Department of Ophthalmology, Osaka Medical Center and Research Institute for Maternal and Child Health, Osaka, Japan. takuan@med.u-toyama.ac.jp
Okamura
Akiko
A
Hatsukawa
Yoshikazu
Y
Nakayama
Keiko
K
Inoue
Masami
M
Nakayama
Masahiro
M
D002675:Child, Preschool; D002830:Choroid Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D018240:Endodermal Sinus Tumor / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D015353:Eye Enucleation; D006801:Humans; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D008297:Male; D019574:Optic Nerve Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D019572:Retinal Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins / Q000032:analysis
D000509:alpha-Fetoproteins