Title
First case report of tuberculous meningitis secondary to endometrial tuberculosis following a clandestine abortion
Date Issued
01 January 2020
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
EDIMES Edizioni Medico Scientifiche
Abstract
Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is a medical emergency: it is the most severe, lethal and disabling clinical form of tuberculosis. We report the case of a 44-year-old woman who had undergone a clandestine abortion six weeks before admission. One week later, she had abnormal vaginal discharge. Three weeks prior to admission, headache, hyperpyrexia and mental alteration were added. At admission, a transvaginal ultrasound showed abnormalities of the uterine cavity. Sepsis and endome-tritis were diagnosed, and a hysterectomy was scheduled. During preoperative evaluation, meningeal signs were found. The first lumbar puncture (LP) showed a lymphomononuclear pleocytosis, hypoglycorrhachia and hyperproteinorrachia. After five days treatment with ceftriaxone, vancomycin and dexamethasone, only partial recovery occurred. A second LP showed AFB and PCR confirmed Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The histopa-thology of endometrial biopsy confirmed endometrial tuberculosis. Therapeutic response to anti-tuberculous treatment and corticosteroids was excellent. No other cause of immunosuppression apart from pregnancy was found. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of TBM secondary to endometrial tuberculosis and highlights an unusual clinical scenario in which severe and disseminated forms of TB could be present. TBM during and after pregnancy is rare, but compared with TBM in non-pregnant women, it has a poorer prognosis. Early diagnosis and treatment can be lifesaving in this life-threatening disease.
Start page
82
End page
86
Volume
28
Issue
1
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Enfermedades infecciosas Obstetricia, Ginecología Sistema respiratorio
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85082002247
PubMed ID
Source
Infezioni in Medicina
ISSN of the container
11249390
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus