TUMORS OF THE BRAIN COMPLICATING PREGNANCY

Abstract

IN THE course of a neurosurgical practice, many problems aside from the brain tumor in question arise to plague the physician. Among them, none is more baffling than that presented when a pregnant woman is found to harbor a tumor in her brain. Both the life of the woman and that of the unborn child are at stake. Shall the pregnancy be interrupted? Shall the tumor be attacked without interfering with the course of the pregnancy? Shall the pregnancy be allowed to continue to its logical end and the tumor attacked later? What effect will labor have on a woman who already shows marked increase in intracranial pressure? It is probable that this pressure will be further increased during delivery. If the pregnancy is to be interrupted, should it be accomplished by induced labor or by cesarean section? Should a woman who harbors an inoperable and hopeless glioma of the