[The onset of an anaplastic ganglioglioma during the post-natal period with signs of toxemia of pregnancy].
BACKGROUND
Gangliogliomas are infrequent neuronoglial tumours which present in youngsters and are usually located in the temporal lobe. They usually appear with epileptic seizures and prognosis after surgical excision is usually good. The anaplastic forms are even less frequent and prognosis is poorer. The onset of epileptic seizures during the early post-natal period means that the clinician has to resort to a broad differential diagnosis.


METHODS
Hours after a preterm birth, at the 32nd week of gestation, a 35-year-old primipara began to suffer seizures and also presented arterial hypertension, proteinuria and a low platelet count. A cranial computerized tomography scan was carried out where a left frontal hypodense lesion was observed. Transcranial echo Doppler scan showed medium speeds and suggested eclampsia. The seizures, however, recurred during the days that followed and a magnetic resonance scan of the head revealed a lesion with nodular contrast enhancement, which was excised, and finally an anatomopathological diagnosis of an anaplastic ganglioglioma was reached.


CONCLUSIONS
The toxemia of pregnancy, which gave rise to a vasogenic cerebral edema, accelerated the clinical onset of a brain tumour during the post-natal period. A ganglioglioma, although infrequent, is always a possibility to be borne in mind in young patients.
Rodríguez-Uranga
J J
JJ
Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio, Sevilla, España. juanj2000@vodafone.es
Franco-Macías
E
E
Delgado-López
F
F
Chinchón-Espino
D
D
D000328:Adult; D000708:Anaplasia / Q000473:pathology*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000473:pathology*; D018303:Ganglioglioma / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D011225:Pre-Eclampsia / Q000150:complications*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011379:Prognosis; D012640:Seizures / Q000209:etiology