[A follow-up study by MRI and enhanced-MRI in a case of cerebral tuberculosis]

We report a case of cerebral tuberculosis following miliary tuberculosis. A 54-year-old man was admitted to our hospital in October 1990 because of fever and general fatigue. Chest x-ray film on admission showed diffuse granular shadows in both lungs. Tubercle bacilli were seen in the sputum (Gaffky 5) by the Ziehl Neelsen's staining, and anti-tuberculous therapy was quickly started. But a few days after admission, the disturbance of consciousness, neck stiffness, and headache appeared. The examination of cerebrospinal fluid disclosed that leucocytes was increased in number, and that ADA was elevated to 14.6 IU/l. Tubercle bacilli were detected from cerebrospinal fluid by culture. Although CT scan of the brain was normal at first week of admission, brain CT at eighth week of admission showed several nodulus enhanced with contrast medium. The findings were confirmed by T2 weighted magnetic resonance images (MRI) as high intense areas. Although T1 weighted MRI showed isointensity of the gray matter, T1 weighted MRI enhanced by Gd-DTPA revealed abnormal enhancement. At twenty-ninth week of admission CT showed no abnormality even by contrast enhancement, but enhanced T1 weighted MRI revealed a small lesion with enhancement which was not shown by CT. MRI enhanced by Gd-DTPA was more useful for evaluating cerebral tuberculosis than brain CT.