Early prenatal detection of a fast-growing fetal epignathus.

Epignathus is a rare congenital orofacial teratoma. We present a case of a fast-growing tumor, where early prenatal diagnosis was made and where fetopathological examination revealed the reason of the remarkable ultrasonographic signs and underlined the expected poor prognosis. Ultrasonographic examination at 18 weeks' gestation showed that there was a growing tumor protruding from the fetus's mouth.

[Microchimerism, as an inheritance from pregnancy].

During pregnancy, due to the bidirectional traffic through the placenta, chimera cells or DNA gets into the mother's and her fetus' body. This is the phenomenon of fetal and maternal microchimerism. These cells, even decades after the birth, can be detected in the host.