Abstract

DOCAMPO, Jorge et al. Neurotuberculosis: Intracranial MRI findings. Rev. argent. radiol. [online]. 2012, vol.76, n.2, pp.151-160. ISSN 1852-9992.

Purposes. To report our case series of patients with a diagnosis of intracranial tuberculosis and to describe the different types of lesions characterizing this entity on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). Materials and Methods. For the present study, we retrospectively selected 20 patients with positive MRI findings of intracranial tuberculosis. Twelve of them were males and 8 were females, with an age range of between 8 months and 49 years (mean age: 21years). Clinical diagnosis was obtained by lumbar puncture and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) culture. Eleven patients presented positive HIV serology. MRIs were performed using 0.5T and 1.5 T scanners and computed tomography (CT) of the brain was also performed in two patients. Diffusion-weighted technique was performed in two patients and spectroscopy in one patient. Results. Of the total patients studied (n=20), 14 presented convexity subarachnoid involvement and 13 subarachnoid basal cystern involvement (leptomeningeal involvement), 13 presented tuberculomas, 11 large-vessel angiitis, 7 smallvessel angiitis, 7 hydrocephalia, 6 parenchymatous infarction and one pachymeningeal involvement. Combined lesions were observed in 15 patients. Conclusion. The most frequent location of neurotuberculosis in this series was meningeal with leptomeningeal involvement (14 patients with subarachnoid involvement, followed by cysternal involvement in 13 patients), and only one patient had pachymeningeal involvement. The most frequent parenchymatous finding of tuberculosis was tuberculoma in 13 patients, 5 with a miliary pattern and only one with pseudo-tumoral behavior.

Keywords : MRI; Neurotuberculosis; Tuberculoma; Tuberculosis.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )