Clival Tuberculosis: A Case Report

A 39-year-old female presented with complaints of occipital headaches, diplopia, numbness over left half of face and deviation of face to the right. On examination she had hypoesthesia over left half of face, associated with bilateral abductor and left facial palsy. Neuroradiology showed a well-defined lytic lesion involving the clivus and adjacent sphenoid sinus and sella. The patient underwent an endoscopic transnasal decompression of the clival lesion. Intraoperative squash preparation was reported to show tuberculous granulation, which was confirmed on postoperative histology. The patient was advised anti-tubercular therapy. At 12 months follow up neuroradiology showed a near total resolution of the clival lesion. The patient had completely recovered from her cranial nerve deficits. Tuberculous involvement of spheno-clival region is rare and the authors' literature search has yielded only three previous similar case reports. A surgical decompression followed by anti-tubercular therapy is the recommended approach for management of clival tuberculosis. The relevant literature on the subject is presented.