Pregnant woman and baby saved after doctors identified her unpleasant cough and shortness of breath as a rare lump in her chest

MaKenna Lauterbach from Illinois was 36 weeks pregnant when she received the shocking diagnosis of a large lump in her chest, revealing the true cause of her persistent cough and shortness of breath during pregnancy. The 26-year-old woman, who was diagnosed with stage 3 melanoma, is now stable and recovering with her healthy baby thanks to timely intervention and the coordinated efforts of a dedicated team of doctors.

When Lauterbach felt a severe cough during her pregnancy, she knew something was wrong. Simple tasks like walking to the barn to feed the horses left her extremely winded, as if she had just run two miles. However, doctors were initially hesitant to perform a chest CT scan due to concerns about radiation exposure.

When Lauterbach was due, her cough became so severe that she began vomiting and had to be hospitalized for shortness of breath. Scans then revealed a grapefruit-sized tumor in her chest, blocking the artery leading to her right lung.

Before Lauterbach received the diagnosis, she suffered from respiratory failure and the tumor was blocking her airway, threatening her and her baby’s life.

After being airlifted to the intensive care unit of Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, her condition worsened, labor began, her blood pressure rose, and the baby began to show signs of distress during contractions.

“Lauterbach was in serious trouble and we had to act quickly – it wasn’t something that could wait until Monday morning. When you’re pregnant with a baby that’s almost full-term, your lungs are no longer functioning at full capacity, and when you add a huge tumor to the mix, you’re at risk of respiratory collapse and cardiac arrest,” said Dr. Lynn Yee, a maternal-fetal medicine specialist. at Northwestern Medicine in press release.

Doctors quickly prepared Lauterbach for extracorporeal life support (ECMO) and performed an emergency caesarean section, which resulted in the successful birth of a healthy baby boy.

“I gave birth so quickly because of the tumor. I was mourning the birth plan I had spent months preparing for while also struggling with the news of my unexpected diagnosis,” Lauterbach said.

While her newborn was in the neonatal intensive care unit, doctors performed an advanced bronchoscopy on Lauterbach. The procedure revealed that the tumor was stage three melanoma, prompting the medical team to immediately begin developing a treatment plan.

“Lauterbach’s diagnosis was difficult to make because we weren’t sure whether the melanoma started in the chest or elsewhere, and there isn’t much literature or published cases on how to best treat this type of cancer, so we had to rely on research expertise , which we developed at Northwestern Medicine,” said Dr. Kalvin Lung, a thoracic surgeon at Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute.

The medical team decided to perform surgery to remove the tumor. Before the procedure, Lauterbach received three rounds of immunotherapy, which helped shrink the tumor from 13 to 9 centimeters.

“We believe that at some point Lauterbach had melanoma on her skin and her own immune system dealt with it, but before that one or two cells may have escaped and eventually started growing in her body,” explained Dr. Sunandana Chandra, an oncologist at the Comprehensive Cancer Center. them. Robert H. Lurie at Northwestern University at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

During the surgery, doctors had to remove her right lung, main pulmonary artery and lymph nodes. “The tumor was on Lauterbach’s heart and was extending into the right lung, affecting all three lobes and the entire main trunk of the pulmonary artery, so we had to remove the right lung,” said Dr. Lung, who performed the surgery along with Dr. Chris Mehta, a cardiac surgeon at Northwestern Medicine Bluhm Cardiocular Institute.

“It is extremely rare for this type of tumor to infiltrate the main blood vessels of the heart. We may observe something like this once every few years,” added Dr. Mehta.

Lauterbach’s most recent tests showed no metastasis from the melanoma, and although her cancer status remains stable with no new tumors, she will continue immunotherapy treatment for the next year.