Surgery for expansion of spinal tuberculoma during antituberculous chemotherapy: A case report

We report a case of intramedullary spinal tuberculoma in a girl aged 2 year s and 6 months. At the age of 18 months, the patient was hospitalized for 2 months with tuberculous meningitis. Tuberculomas then appeared in the thor acic spinal cord, and the patient developed paraparesis despite continuatio n of chemotherapy. Spinal magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated multiple ring-enhanced lesions in the cord on the T1-weighted image; on the T2-weigh ted image, the lesions had a bright core surrounded by a hypointense rim. L aminectomy and partial excision were performed, and the paraparesis improve d. In addition to antituberculous chemotherapy and dexamethasone, surgical decompression was needed to treat the expansion of the spinal tuberculoma. Copyright (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.