All that glisters … a generalised seizure at 31 weeks

Metastatic pulmonary adenocarcinoma to placenta and pleural fluid: clinicopathologic findings

OBJECTIVES

To report the clinicopathologic findings of a pregnant woman with Stage IV adenocarcinoma of the lung with placental metastasis.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Medical records review.

RESULTS

A 31-year-old G(2)P(1001) woman was diagnosed with Stage IV metastatic adenocarcinoma of the lung. At 34 weeks' and 2 days' gestation, she went into preterm labor and delivered a live male infant, weighing 2595 grams, with Apgar scores of 9 and 9, respectively. Placental pathology was significant for adenocarcinoma with a solid and acinar pattern, consistent with that from the lung. Her postpartum course was uneventful. She did not receive chemotherapy and expired one month postpartum. To date, the infant is without evidence of disease.

CONCLUSIONS

The occurance of lung cancer in pregnancy is rare and a few cases have been reported in literature. Placental metastasis is extremely uncommon in these cases and can lead to fetal involvement by lung tumor. It is important to report all cases of lung cancer occurring in pregnancy with subsequent close clinical surveillance of the infant as all cases have a different clinical picture.

Anaesthesia for caesarean section in a woman with lung cancer: case report and review

A 33-year-old woman pregnant with twins was diagnosed with metastatic lung cancer during pregnancy. Her multidisciplinary care raised many medical and ethical issues. To help decide on the best anaesthetic technique for caesarean section, a literature search of published case reports of pregnancy associated with lung cancer was performed. Thirty-five cases of primary lung cancer associated with pregnancy were found. Anaesthetic technique was reported in only five of the 20 patients who underwent caesarean section: one spinal, three epidurals and one general anaesthetic. Of the 11 patients who delivered vaginally, only one was reported to have received epidural analgesia. As published data regarding anaesthesia and analgesia are limited for women with lung cancer in pregnancy, we describe our perioperative approach and review the potential challenging aspects of management in a pregnant patient with metastatic lung cancer.