title: A Case of Cervical Spine Tuberculosis in an Infant.
abstract: Tuberculosis of cervical spine is an extremely rare entity in infants with only few case reports available in the literature. The diagnosis is often delayed due to less dramatic effects of paraplegia or quadriplegia in an infant as compared to older paediatric population. Along with clinical and laboratory investigations, imaging plays a crucial role in defining the extent of involvement, evaluation of complications, providing suitable differential diagnosis and monitoring response to treatment. Tuberculosis typically involves the discovertebral complex while involvement of isolated vertebral body or multiple vertebrae without involving the intervertebral discs is much less common. We present such an unusual case of cervical spine tuberculosis in an infant involving a single vertebral body without adjacent intervertebral disc involvement complicated with tuberculous meningitis (TBM) and communicating hydrocephalus. The early medical intervention in this case resulted in early diagnosis, active treatment and resultant near normal recovery.
authors.affiliation: Head of the Department and Associate Professor, Department of Radiology, INHS , Kalyani, Gandhigram Po Visakhapatnam, India .
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Singh
authors.affiliation: Senior Resident, Department of Radiology, INHS , Kalyani, Gandhigram Po Visakhapatnam, India .
authors.forename: Trilok C
authors.initials: TC
authors.lastname: Bhatt
authors.affiliation: Senior Resident, Department of Radiology, SCTIMST , Trivandrum, India .
authors.forename: Savit
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Assistant Professor, Department of Radiology, INHS , Kalyani, Gandhigram Po Visakhapatnam, India .
authors.forename: Vikas
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Chauhan
authors.affiliation: Senior Resident, Department of Paediatrics, INHS , Kalyani, Gandhigram Po Visakhapatnam, India .
authors.forename: Anjali
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Pandey
keywords: Leptomeningeal enhancement; Tubercular meningitis