Dr. P. Marazzi/Photo Researchers; CNRI/Photo Researchers
NONCANCEROUS TERATOMAS Ovarian dermoid cysts, each with its own tooth. Similar tumors can grow hair and bone, and they may be promising sources of stem cells.
Posted on 06/07/2006 8:16:45 PM PDT by neverdem
Doctors had diagnosed an ear infection in Robyn Miller's 5-week-old daughter Megan, but Ms. Miller had only to gaze into Megan's blank face to know that something more was going on.
"Her eyes dipped down so low that most of what you could see was white," she recalled.
M.R.I. scans revealed a teratoma in Megan's skull — a noncancerous mass of rapidly dividing cells, the result of natural developmental processes gone awry.
"I always thought a benign tumor meant you were going to be O.K.," said Ms. Miller, who lives in Melbourne, Australia. "But this tumor was the size of a clenched fist, and it was expanding inside her brain."
A tumor's encroachment is always terrifying, but teratomas, literally "monster tumors," exert a macabre hold on the imagination because they contain human elements remixed with Frankensteinian logic. It is not unusual for a teratoma to contain patches of hair, errant wedges of cartilage and even fully formed teeth.
In the movie "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," Toula's Aunt Voula describes her teratoma as a mutant version of herself: "I had a lump at the back of my neck," she says. "So I go to the doctor, and inside the lump he found teeth and a spinal cord. Inside the lump was my twin."
Yet new research suggests that the very property that makes these tumors sinister — their ability to spawn human tissues — makes them valuable scientifically.
As clusters of human cells that are not independent organisms, teratomas may prove better test subjects for drugs than lab animals, and they are inspiring ways to grow stem cells without harvesting embryos.
Karl Skorecki, a biologist at Technion University in Haifa, Israel, is among a handful of researchers hoping to turn this rare affliction into biological gold. Dr. Skorecki's teratoma studies...
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
stem cell ping
/shiver/
Have you seen any of the tv shows about these?
How many of those will it take to build a Shakeys Pizza????
I've had two of these! The first time I was diagnosed with one was in 1993. I remember the doctor telling me that it was about the size of a grapefruit and that it could have hair and teeth and goo. He told me about the absorption of twins, and I remember telling him, "Stop it! You have been reading too many Stephen King novels!" I was freaked out.
Later I was out with my girlfriends, a guy asked me "Hey do you have a twin?" and I smiled at him, and said, "Yes, but I ate her." The expression on his face was priceless.
Unfortunately it was cancerous; however, it was only in the tumor, and they got it all out. Thank the Lord.
In 2003, I had another one. This one was the size of a watermelon (in keeping with the fruit theme, I guess.) and grew that large in one week. I looked like I was 6 months pregnant. I named it Bertha. Bertha was benign. Apparently it was really nasty because I came to while still in the operating room, as they were wiping me down, and I could hear the surgical nurse discussing with another that it was really gross, and it had ruptured.
Just call me the original tumor lady. My friends do. ;^) Hopefully, I'm done with these things. Yuck.
...and go you one weirder:
Stem Cells — A Changed Personal Course, From Embryonic Stem Cell Support to Its Opposition
ACE inhibitors linked to birth defects (New notification from FDA to docs & patients)
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
No
My nephew has had two desmoid tumors removed from his hip. I think this is different but it is very worrisome as it seems to be regrowing again.
Oh I wish I had clicked onto this link.
Nightmares tonight for sure.
I mean NOT clicked on this link.
It's well-worth a try.
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