[Intracranial tuberculoma with spontaneous recovery]

A 57-year-old man was admitted because of headache, nausea, and fever up (38 degrees C). He showed nuchal rigidity slightly. CSF analysis showed 833 white blood cells (WBC) (80% monocyte), protein value of 68 mg/dl, glucose level of 36 mg/dl and ADA level of 11.8 IU/l. Brain pre-contrast CT indicated high density area in right parietal lobe, and it showed slightly homogeneously enhancement with contrast medium. MRI on T2 WI demonstrated hypointense lesion with bright central core in right parietal lobe. The lesion showed isointense on T1WI, and indicated homogeneous enhancement with Gd-DTPA. He was sent to our hospital after one week. With only antibiotics the symptoms were relieved and the CSF findings improved during the previous hospital. However, Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis) DNA was detected in CSF by PCR amplification, and he recovered completely with anti-tuberculous treatment. This case was interesting to reveal atypical features of spontaneous recovery. Since Shankar's study using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for detection of M. tuberculosis in cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), the PCR assay have been recognized to be a rapid method for diagnosis of tuberculous meningitis (TBM). But there are problems of PCR sensitivity when dealing with CSF samples containing small amount of M. tuberculosis DNA. Comparing direct PCR with nested PCR, we studied on the evaluation of PCR for diagnosis of TBM. In this study the nested PCR was positive in all CSF specimens from 4 patients with TBM, but we could not detect M. tuberculosis DNA by only the direct PCR. Nested PCR amplification improved the sensitivity and specificity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)