Perioperative management of a pregnant patient with mediastinal tumor complicated by tuberculosis

Abstract

Mediastinal tumor in a pregnant woman, which had needed a multidisciplinary approach, was further complicated by tuberculosis. The clinical course of the current patient was very complicated. A 37-year-old female at 18 weeks of gestation with a mediastinal tumor was referred to our hospital due to dyspnea and orthopnea. The tumor compressed the left main bronchus causing bronchial stenosis. She was diagnosed with primary mediastinal large B-cell non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. Delivery after 24 gestational weeks with ongoing chemotherapy was planned by a multidisciplinary team comprising obstetricians, anesthesiologists, neonatologists, and hematologists. Her symptoms improved with chemotherapy; however, she was later diagnosed with tuberculosis leading to chemotherapy interruption to treat tuberculosis. The following confirmation by negative sputum smear microscopy, an elective cesarean section with spinal anesthesia was performed at 33 weeks of gestation, and she safely delivered a female infant. At postoperative day 23, she died due to cardiopulmonary arrest, following an irreversible coma subsequent to brain metastasis of malignant lymphoma. The infant died of respiratory failure at postoperative day 18. This case illustrates several implications, such as the necessity of a thorough systemic examination and treatment approaches for mothers and neonates with suspected tuberculosis during the perioperative period, for considering similar cases with neoplasms.