Neonatal brain tissue embolism in the lung.

A brain tissue embolus was observed in a major pulmonary artery in the right lung, in a neonate who died from intracranial haemorhage 36 hours after delivery. This is the fifth documented case in a neonate and the only one in whom survival had occurred beyond one hour. Brain tissue emboli in the pulmonary circulation occur 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 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 the authors are aware, only four such cases have been documented. In view of the rarity of this condition, it was thought that the present case merited reporting.