title: [Bacterial cerebritis developed from purulent meningitis--serial CT and MRI study of a case].
abstract: A 54-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital because of purulent meningitis caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae during a long-term administration of prednisolone for the treatment of bronchial asthma. After admission, both antibiotics and steroids were given, which resulted in her good general and neurological condition, and the normal protein and glucose content in her cerebrospinal fluid three weeks later. However, post-contrast computerized tomography (CT) at this time showed various size of multiple irregular high-densities devoid of capsular component in the white matter of the bilateral cerebral hemisphere. MRI examination revealed that the lesions were of low intensity on the T1-weighted sequence whereas high on T2-weighted sequence. Gd-DTPA enhanced the T1-weighted images on these lesions. These findings may indicate that the lesions were at the pre-encapsulation stage of cerebritis, because the lesions were gradually reduced and disappeared after the subsequent antibiotic therapy. It is emphasized that patients with purulent meningitis under steroid therapy require careful observation for the risk of bacterial cerebritis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Hakujyuji Hospital.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Terai
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Yoshida
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Miake
mesh_terms: D004660:Encephalitis / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008586:Meningitis, Pneumococcal / Q000150:complications*; D008875:Middle Aged; D011008:Pneumococcal Infections / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed