[Meningo-encephalic tuberculosis in childhood. Anatomo pathological study of 10 cases]

The anatomo-pathological study of ten cases of tuberculosis of the central nervous system (CNS) in children under 10 years old is reported. The emphasis is given to the macroscopic and microscopic changes produced by the tuberculosis in the meninges, in the nervous parenchyma and in the vessels. The clinical and pathological findings are discussed and correlated with the literature. The authors concluded that: 1) the lesion in children with tuberculosis of the CNS is generally a proliferative meningoencephalitis; 2) the nervous parenchyma may be affected by the contiguous propagation of the tuberculous process or by the circulatory changes secondary to the arterial lesions; 3) because of the localization of the endocranial vessels in the sub-arachnoidal space they are generally injured by the inflammatory process, which can determine an obliterating endarteritis, which can be observed by a carotid angiography.