Clinical significance of neurofibromatosis in pregnancy

Neurofibromatosis (NF) is a common genetic disease that affects multiple organ systems. We studied eight women with NF and the outcome of their 14 pregnancies. One patient and her fetus died of a massive intracranial hemorrhage as a result of ruptured glioblastoma of the basal ganglia. The incidence of live birth and preterm labor were 50% and 28.6%, respectively. One of 14 pregnancies (7.1%) resulted in spontaneous abortion. There was also one growth-retarded fetus in this series (7.1%). Perinatal implications of this disease and management guidelines are discussed.