title: Central nervous system tuberculosis and adjuvant corticosteroid therapy.
abstract: Tuberculous involvement of central nervous system is one of the important health issues causing high mortality and morbidity. Uncertainty and doubt dominate all aspects of CNS tuberculosis. Diagnosis is mainly based on clinical features, cerebrospinal fluid changes, and imaging characteristics. Few studies have shown that corticosteroids improve the clinical outcome, although the precise mechanism of action remains tentative. All the cases were selected on strong clinical suspicion of CNS tuberculosis. They were graded according to tuberculous meningitis (TM) severity grades. In this connection, we studied 13 patients in one medicine unit over 12 month's period to see the effect of corticosteroid as part of the outcome. Nine patients (69.23%) were in grade II, three (23.08%) patients were in grade III, and one (7.69%) was in grade I. Seven patients (53.85%) had tuberculous meningitis and six (46.15%) had tuberculoma (CT or MRI). Out of 13 cases 3 patients (23%) died in the hospital and 10 patients (77%) improved, of whom 2 patients (20%) recovered completely and 8 patients (80%) had residual neurological deficit. Our study suggests that the early detection of CNS tuberculosis is the most important prognostic factor. Timely started anti-Koch's treatment with adjuvant corticosteroid therapy has a direct bearing on patient outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Dhaka Medical College & Hospital, Dhaka, Bangladesh.
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Rahman
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Basher
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rashid
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Islam
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kuddus
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Arif
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Faiz
mesh_terms: D000277:Adjuvants, Pharmaceutic / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D000328:Adult; D000995:Antitubercular Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000627:therapeutic use; D005260:Female; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000627:therapeutic use; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D011446:Prospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D020306:Tuberculosis, Central Nervous System / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000503:physiopathology; D014390:Tuberculosis, Meningeal / Q000188:drug therapy
chemical_list: D000277:Adjuvants, Pharmaceutic; D000305:Adrenal Cortex Hormones; D000995:Antitubercular Agents; D005938:Glucocorticoids; D003907:Dexamethasone