Medulloblastoma Presenting as Severe Headache during Pregnancy: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Headache is a common complaint during pregnancy and the puerperium. The differentiation between a benign headache and a headache that has an underlying more endangering cause, such as an intracranial tumor, can be difficult and often requires diagnostic procedures and brain imaging techniques. We re...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) Lithuania), 2022-01, Vol.58 (1), p.127
Main Authors: Paslaru, Francesca Gabriela, Panaitescu, Anca Maria, Nestian, Elena, Iancu, George, Veduta, Alina, Paslaru, Alexandru Catalin, Pop, Lucian Gheorghe, Gorgan, Radu Mircea
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adolescent
Brain cancer
Brain Neoplasms
brain tumor
Cancer therapies
Case Report
Case reports
Cerebellar Neoplasms - complications
Cerebellar Neoplasms - diagnosis
Edema
Estrogens
Female
Fetuses
Gene expression
headache
Headache - etiology
Headaches
Humans
Medical imaging
Medical prognosis
medulloblastoma
Medulloblastoma - complications
Medulloblastoma - diagnosis
Nervous system
Patients
Postpartum Period
Pregnancy
Tumors
Womens health
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Summary:Headache is a common complaint during pregnancy and the puerperium. The differentiation between a benign headache and a headache that has an underlying more endangering cause, such as an intracranial tumor, can be difficult and often requires diagnostic procedures and brain imaging techniques. We report the case of an 18-year-old female patient who developed clinical symptoms-persistent headache followed by neurological deficit-in the last part of her pregnancy. A medulloblastoma (MB) was diagnosed and treated after delivery. We review 11 other cases of MB in pregnancy reported in the literature. The most common clinical manifestation at diagnosis was headache followed by neurological deficits. We discuss the association of brain tumor growth with physiological changes during pregnancy. We conclude that clinical features of intracranial tumors can be misinterpreted as pregnancy-related symptoms and should not be dismissed.
ISSN:1648-9144
1010-660X
1648-9144
DOI:10.3390/medicina58010127