Neuro-pathological Studies on Tuberculous Meningitis Treated with Streptomycin

Abstract

1. The brains of 18 patients succumbing to tuberculous meningitis were studied neuropathologically. 13 cases had been treated with streptomycin and 5 cases had received no streptomycin. 2. In the chronic cases treated with streptomycin the inflammatory invasion of the base of the brain and the wall of the ventricles was more serious than in the untreated group. One case cured completely and showed almost no pathological lesions in the meninges or in the brain. 3. Primary atrophy of the brain plays an important role in causing hydrocephalus internus. 4. The intravascular spreading of tubercle bacilli in the brain, leading to encephalo-meningitis, could not be neglected. 5. Caseous tubercles were frequently found in the brain.