General anesthesia and undiagnosed cerebral metastasis. Clinical case [Anestesia generale e metastasi cerebrale misconosciuta. Caso clinico.]

A case of late recovery from anesthesia in a patient undergoing bronchoscopy for surgical removal of metastatic bronchial mass is presented. The patient was comatose and a CT scan revealed the presence of bleeding inside a tumor, probably a metastasis, located in the right cerebellum. This report demonstrates that undetected cerebral metastases might lead to late recovery from anesthesia and underlines that accurate neurologic examination is mandatory in patients affected by tumors potentially spreading to the brain.