Non-surgical treatment of tuberculomas of the brain

A personal series of 14 patients with tuberculomas of the brain were treated with anti-tuberculous drugs. There were eight patients with solitary and six with multiple lesions, the size of the lesions varying from 3 x 2 cm to 7.5 x 6 cm. The symptoms and signs of tuberculomas of the brain are non-specific. The initial diagnosis is therefore presumptive and based on their characteristic CT patterns on contrast enhancement. These patterns are usually solid enhancing lesions, ring enhancing lesions or mixed solid and ring forms. The final diagnosis is established by the patient's clinical improvement and the CT scan evidence of decrease in the extent of the oedema and the size of the lesion after a therapeutic test by means of triple anti-tuberculous drug therapy lasting for 12 weeks. All patients but one were treated successfully with triple anti-tuberculous drug therapy, for a continued total period of 18 months. A failure of medical treatment occurred in one patient due to non-compliance. In this patient, the residual cerebral lesion after the tuberculoma had healed required excision to control intractable epilepsy. Associated obstructive hydrocephalus in another patient needed a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt. The patients were followed for six months to five years. There were no recurrences. It is concluded that medical treatment with anti-tuberculous drugs is the treatment of choice for tuberculomas of the brain. With the use of steroids to control the brain oedema and its resultant mass effect and increased intracranial pressure, and a ventriculo-peritoneal shunt for hydrocephalus, almost all tuberculomas of the brain, irrespective of their size, can be cured by medical treatment.