[Tuberculosis of the CNS--once again a current neurosurgical disease]

Abstract

Tuberculosis is relative uncommon in developed countries. The incidence is still considerable in India, in the Middle East and South America. Neurosurgically important manifestations of tuberculosis are intracranial tuberculomas, tuberculous meningitis with hydrocephalus and tuberculous spondylitis. Therefore experiences in the management of these three kinds of neurotuberculosis are described and an overview of the literature is given. The diagnosis of intracranial tuberculomas is difficult because the symptoms are similar to those of many other types of intracranial tumor and the CT-findings are unspecific. Clinical recognition of neurotuberculosis rests mainly on the evidence of the general disease. A positive skin test supports the diagnosis. The management of tuberculomas enclosed stereotactic biopsy to confirm the diagnosis, medical treatment and surgery. But surgery is only indicated for larger symptomatic mass lesions producing midline shift and severe intracranial hypertension. With antituberculous drugs treated tuberculomas begin to decrease in size within the first two months of therapy. Hydrocephalus is a common complication of tuberculous meningitis. Due to the low incidence the first diagnosis in industrialized countries is a hydrocephalus of unknown origin. The diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis is suspected in any case of subacute meningitis with a CSF profile demonstrating a predominance of lymphocytes, elevated protein value, hypoglycaemia and negative stains for bacterial or fungal organisms, because positive smears for acid-fast bacilli are seldom. Without treatment, tuberculous meningitis is invariably fatal within 4 to 6 weeks. Therefore, when ever tuberculous meningitis is suspected, antituberculous therapy must be started.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)