Neonatal brain tissue embolism in the lung

Abstract

Brain tissue embolism in the pulmonary circulation occurs very rarely; it has been described in adults and children with head injuries. In newborn infants with severe congenital malformations of the central nervous system, brain tissue has been found growing in the lungs; the possibility of this being the result of a prenatal brain trauma with embolization has been raised. In newborn infants, pulmonary brain tissue embolism as a result of birth trauma has been reported only very rarely; as far as is known, only 4 such cases have been documented. A brain tissue embolus was observed in a major pulmonary artery in the right lung, in a neonate who died from intracranial hemorrhage 36 hr after delivery. This is the 5th documented case in a neonate and the only one in which survival lasted beyond 1 hr.