Cleft palate associated with cervico-facial teratoma: report of two cases and review of the literature

Abstract

We report two original cases of association of cleft palate and lateral cervico-facial teratoma. We discuss the embryological explanation. The first child presented a cleft palate associated with two cervico-facial localisations of teratoma. The other had Pierre Robin sequence associated with lateropharyngeal teratoma with an extra sub maxillary localisation. Most reported cases were of midline teratomas, leading different authors to advance a mechanical origin to the cleft. Our cases are different: we could hardly find reported cases of associate lateral tumours and cleft palate, which would suggest two different embryologic mechanisms, or at least a combination of more complicated phenomenons.