Macerated fetus in utero relating to intracranial angioma: report of 2 cases.

ABSTRACT

Two macerated fetuses in utero are presented. The mothers experienced no abnormalities during pregnancy. Both fetuses were found postmortem to have intracranial angiomas. In case 1, the angioma in the choroid plexus of the right lateral ventricle was associated with intraventricular and subarchnoid hemorrhages. There was additional angiomatosis in the leptomeninges and substance of the brain. In case 2, there was leptomeningeal angiomatosis with diffuse subarchnoid hemorrhage. It is suggested that spontaneous rupture of the angioma of the choroid plexus in case 1 and of the leptomeninges in case 2 resulted in immediate death of the fetuses with subsequent maceration in utero. Asymptomatic angioma of the fourth ventricular choroid plexus is also described in case 2 because of its extreme rarity.