Cough, Hemoptysis and Hair Expectoration: An Intrapulmonary Teratoma

Teratomas can be found in different organs of the body and may involve gonads, saccrococcygeal region, mediastinum and other sites. Intrathoracic teratomas always occur in mediastinum and less often arise within the lung. As teratomas mostly involve sex organs (gonads), they rarely occur as extra-gonadal tumors accounting for only 3% of all the cases and very small percentage of such tumors occur in mediastinum.We reported an interesting case of middle aged male who presented to us with symptoms of cough, hemoptysis and trichoptysis (hair expectoration).We found that patient had intrapulmonary teratoma that was initially being treated as case of pulmonary tuberculosis. He underwent surgical resection of his cavitatory lesion and diagnosis of intrapulmonary teratoma was confirmed by histopathology as well. The patient made remarkable recovery with complete disappearance of his symptoms. From Pakistan no such case has ever been reported. Although it is very unusual but in patient with cavitatory lesion, intrapulmonary teratoma should always be kept in mind as differential diagnosis.