Something Really Strange Happened To This Woman's Brain Tumor When She Gave Birth
A California woman experienced a rapid reversal of fortune when she was diagnosed with a large tumor pressed against her brain during her last month of pregnancy, only to learn it vanished four months later.
As detailed in a case report in World Neurosurgery, a 23-year-old woman came into the Loma Linda University Medical Center neurology department complaining of severe headaches on the left side of her head, fatigue, periodic blurry vision, nausea, and vomiting that had begun one month prior.
She was in her 37th week of pregnancy and had gone through two previous pregnancies with no complications. An MRI revealed a large growth on the left side of her brain, behind the ear.
The treating physicians suspected it could be an aggressive type of cancer, a cluster of malformed blood vessels prone to hemorrhage, or a type of benign tumor arising from cells in the brain’s surrounding membrane called a meningioma.
Although it is unclear whether the decision came from the medical team or the patient, the team did not operate right away.