[Metastatic brain tumour in pregnancy: a case report]

Malignant tumours of the central nervous system in pregnancy are rare and are most frequently diagnosed in the second part of pregnancy. Of all malignant tumours which may occur in pregnancy, intracranial tumours bear the highest risk of maternal and foetal morbidity and mortality.

A 29-year-old primipara was admitted to our hospital as an emergency in the twenty-ninth week of pregnancy due to headache, right eye sight disorders (double vision), nausea and vomiting. The patient had a total thyroidectomy and a dissection of lymph glands of the neck at the age of seven years due to papillary carcinoma of the thyroid glands. The clinical and sonographic test revealed regular foetal growth and morphology. The MRI showed expansive changes in the brain parenchyma corresponding to metastatic lesion with the subtentorial herniation of the uncus of the hippocampus by compressive effect onto the right cerebral peduncle of the mesencephalon. Emergent neurosurgical intervention was indicated. Having in mind the age at pregnancy, it was decided to perform a caesarean operation. Alive female child was born weighing 1,370 grams. The post-operative procedure was normal. The patient was transferred to the neurosurgery department on the first post-operative day, where she underwent emergent surgery. Immunohistochemistry confirmed the metastatic tumour originating from the primary papillary adenocarcinoma of the thyroid gland.

Neurosurgical diseases in pregnancy simultaneously jeopardize two lives and represent both medical and ethical problem. Upon confirming the presence of intracranial malignancy in pregnancy, further procedure is very individual and it implies cooperation of gynaecologists, neurologists, neurosurgeons, oncologists, anaesthesiologists and neonatologists.