title: Cerebral hernia caused by a thoracic surgery for multiple schwannomas in a patient with Neurofibromatosis type 2.
abstract: Schwannoma is a benign nerve sheath tumor composed of Schwann cells. A solitary schwannoma in the thorax is not rare, but a patient with Neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) and multiple thoracic schwannomas is extremely rare. We report the case of a 27-year-old woman with NF2 and two large schwannomas in her mediastinum and chest wall. We performed thoracic surgery on the patient, but she developed a cerebral hernia immediately after the operation. We report this case in order to analyze the relationship between the operation and cerebral hernia and find a way to prevent this consequence in the future. We conclude that a cranial MRI must be performed for patients with multiple thoracic schwannomas before the surgery. If there is a tumor inside the cranium, the disease in the brain must be treated first to prevent the occurrence of cerebral hernia or hemorrhage.
authors.affiliation: First Affiliated Hospital, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Faculty of Medicine, Departments of Thoracic Surgery, Xi'an, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Sida
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Qin
authors.forename: Chengcheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ren
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D004677:Encephalocele / Q000209:etiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D009442:Neurilemmoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery*; D009455:Neurofibroma / Q000473:pathology; D016518:Neurofibromatosis 2 / Q000150:complications*; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000628:therapy*; D013899:Thoracic Neoplasms / Q000150:complications* / Q000601:surgery*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed