A California woman know a rapid reversal of fortune when she was diagnose with a expectant tumor pressed against her brain during her last calendar month of maternity , only to pick up it vanished four month later .
As detail in a case report inWorld Neurosurgery , a 23 - yr - old woman came into the Loma Linda University Medical Center neurology department complaining of dangerous headaches on the left over side of her principal , fatigue , occasional hazy vision , nausea , and vomiting that had begun one calendar month prior .
She was in her thirty-seventh week of maternity and had move through two former pregnancies with no knottiness . An MRI unveil a orotund growth on the left side of her mentality , behind the ear .
The treating doctor suspect it could be an strong-growing type of malignant neoplastic disease , a cluster of malformed pedigree vessels prostrate to hemorrhage , or a type of benign tumour arising from cells in the brain ’s surrounding membrane called ameningioma .
Although it is unclear whether the decision come from the medical squad or the patient , the squad did not operate on right away .
About one calendar month after cede her babe , the charwoman hark back to the infirmary , noting that her headaches remain but her vision had returned to normal . Hoping to bump off the mysterious mass before it could induce more serious damage , the team plan to engage in the near future .
A little over a month later , a final pre - operative magnetic resonance imaging point that the development had contract dramatically , without any medical interposition – a disappearing act that meant the diagnosis of meningioma was spot on and earned the tumour its tongue - in - cheek nickname , " Houdini " .
Though it vocalize strange , aesculapian researchers have long noted the odd conduct ofmeningiomas in pregnant cleaning woman . These tumors develop most unremarkably in adults over 60 , and the current research suggest that they seldom uprise during pregnancy . Yet something about the change that occur during gestation period cause the otherwise tardily - growing masses to expand chop-chop .
As meningioma spring up , the nearby learning ability structure are progressively compressed , finally resulting in the egress of the characteristic general symptoms experienced by the type report patient as well as seizures and problems specific to the affected psyche area . For example , meningioma often form in the meninx near the olfactory nervus , impede one ’s mother wit of smell .
The exact mechanics drive the accelerated increment rest unknown , butresearchers have identifiedfluctuating levels of hormones , certain increase broker , and the increased productivity of the cardiovascular system of rules during gestation as the potential suspect .
And because all these changes reverse after pregnancy , meningioma have been known to speedily shrivel or once the patient has given nascency . On the other script , if leave unbridled during gestation , they often build to life - menace size of it .
“ In light of the sudden disappearance of the meningioma , no further surgical treatment was pursued , ” the authors wrote .
Lead author and neurosurgeon Dr Vikram Chakravarthy toldLive Sciencethat Doctor of the Church will continue to supervise the affected role to ascertain that the neoplasm extend to shrink and behaves in a benign manner .
