A teeth found on a 4 months old baby brain

A 4-month-old infant in Maryland may be the first
person to have had teeth form in his brain as a
result of a specific type of rare brain tumor,
according to a new report of the case.
The boy is doing well now that his tumor has been
removed, and doctors say the case sheds light on
how these rare tumors develop.
Doctors first suspected something might be wrong
when the child's head appeared to be growing
faster than is typical for children his age. A brain
scan revealed a tumor containing structures that
looked very similar to teeth normally found in the
lower jaw.
The child underwent brain surgery to have the
tumor removed, during which doctors found that
the tumor contained several fully formed teeth,
according to the report. [ 14 Oddest Medical
Cases ]
After an analysis of tumor tissue, doctors
determined the child had a craniopharyngioma , a
rare brain tumor that can grow to be larger than a
golf ball, but does not spread.
Researchers had always suspected that these
tumors form from the same cells involved in
making teeth, but until now, doctors had never
seen actual teeth in these tumors, said Dr. Narlin
Beaty, a neurosurgeon at the University of
Maryland Medical Center, who performed the boy's
surgery along with his colleague, Dr. Edward Ahn,
of Johns Hopkins Children's Center.
"It's not every day you see teeth in any type of
tumor in the brain. In a craniopharyngiomas, it's
unheard of," Beaty said.
Craniopharyngiomas commonly contain calcium
deposits, "but when we pulled out a full tooth...I
think that’s something slightly different," Beaty told
Live Science.
Teeth have been found in people's brains before,
but only in tumors known as teratomas , which are
unique among tumors because they contain all
three of the tissue types found in an early-stage
human embryo, Beaty said. In contrast,
craniopharyngiomas have only one layer of tissue.
The boy's case provides more evidence that
craniopharyngiomas do indeed develop from the
cells that make teeth, Beaty said.
These tumors are most often diagnosed in children
ages 5 to 14, and are rare in children younger than
2, according to the National Cancer Institute.
The boy is progressing well in his development,
the researchers said. However, because
craniopharyngiomas are tumors of the pituitary
gland — a gland in the brain that releases many
important hormones — they often cause hormone
problems.
In the boy's case, the tumor destroyed the normal
connections in the brain that would allow certain
hormones to be released, Beaty said, so he will
need to receive hormone treatments for the rest of
his life to replace these hormones, Beaty said.
"He's doing extremely well, all things considered,"
Beaty said. "This was a big tumor right in the
center of his brain. Before the moderate surgical
era this child would not have survived," Beaty
said.
The teeth were sent to a pathologist for further
study, Beaty said, and generally, these types of
tissue samples are saved for many years in case
more investigation is needed.