Preliminary report of directly observed treatment, short course in tuberculous meningitis.
BACKGROUND
Diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is a challenge because of the manifold clinical presentation, and diagnosis is often delayed.


OBJECTIVE
We wanted to share our experience of directly observed treatment short course (DOTS) in TBM. We did a retrospective analysis to look at the presentation, management and outcome of TBM patients from November 2006 to April 2008.


METHODS
TBM was diagnosed based on clinical criteria. We excluded patients with HIV.


RESULTS
We had 11 patients on DOTS regime. One died following hepatitis and another patient died of unrelated gastroenteritis. The only patient on daily regime died. Our patients generally presented late, at a median duration 20 days from onset of symptoms, and 50% had stage 3 disease at presentation. The median delay in diagnosis was 4.5 days.


CONCLUSIONS
We found DOTS to be effective in TBM but not without side effects.
Iype
Thomas
T
Department of Neurology, Medical College, Thiruvananthapuram, India.
Chacko
Sinchu
S
Raghavan
Sivadasan
S
Mathew
Robert
R
Mohan
Madhusudanan
M