title: A Rare Malignant Fetal Brain Tumor.
abstract: A gravida 4, para 3 female at 37 weeks' gestation presented for a routine ultrasound. She had an otherwise uncomplicated low-risk pregnancy. The sonographic evaluation of the fetus revealed a macrocephaly and a deviation of the brain midline structures with a mass effect as well as a massively dilated left cerebral ventricular system with ill-defined echogenic ventricular delineation. Multiple free intracavitary echogenicities and disruptions of the brain mantle were visible. Our images were suggestive of either an intracranial bleed with the presence of an underlying tumor or a spontaneous bleed. A postnatal MRI was consistent with our prenatal findings of a possible tumor. The postnatal biopsy revealed an anaplastic astroblastoma within a hemorrhagic background. The infant received multiple courses of chemotherapy and further tumor debulking. At present, the infant is 18 months old. This is only the 4th case of an astrocytoma identified in the fetal period, and our case has the longest known survival yet.
authors.affiliation: Division of Maternal Fetal Medicine, Department of OB/GYN, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, Wis., USA.
authors.forename: Jesus Igor
authors.initials: JI
authors.lastname: Iruretagoyena
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heiser
authors.forename: Bermans
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Iskandar
authors.forename: Dinesh
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Shah
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001254:Astrocytoma / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D020300:Intracranial Hemorrhages / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D018302:Neoplasms, Neuroepithelial / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging*; D011247:Pregnancy; D016216:Ultrasonography, Prenatal