Cerebral neurenteric cyst causing sudden unexpected death of an adolescent

A 14-year-old girl was found moribund in her bed late one morning. She had suffered  from tiredness, headache, nausea and intermittent vomiting during the preceding 4 days, but had been able to continue with normal activities and had received simple analgesics only. She could not sleep well during the two nights before her death and was heard coughing 2 hours before being found moribund by her mother. No signs of life were detected by paramedics, despite prolonged resuscitative attempts. She had attended a general practitioner for a brief period of headache and vomiting 3 months earlier; this was thought to be migraine and was treated effectively with simple analgesia. She remained asymptomatic with no further contact with any health professional until her death.

CT head performed shortly after her arrival to hospital showed a large fluid attenuation lesion within the left cerebral hemisphere causing significant mass effect with subfalcine, uncal and probable trans-foramen magnum herniation. There...

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