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Syringomyelia as a Complication of Tuberculous Meningitis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 September 2015

Michael G. Fehlings*
Affiliation:
Division of Neurosurgery, The Toronto Hospital, Western Division and University of Toronto, Toronto
Mark Bernstein*
Affiliation:
Division of Neurosurgery, The Toronto Hospital, Western Division and University of Toronto, Toronto
*
Division of Neurosurgery, The Toronto Hospital, Western Division, 399 Bathurst St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2S8
Division of Neurosurgery, The Toronto Hospital, Western Division, 399 Bathurst St, Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5T 2S8
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Abstract:

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Tuberculous meningitis may rarely be followed by the development of syringomyelia despite appropriate chemotherapy. In the present paper, we report a case of tuberculous meningitis in a 23-year-old Vietnamese male complicated by a rapidly progressive myelopathy due to granulomatous arachnoiditis which culminated in the development of a syrinx. The relevant literature is reviewed. The present case supports the hypothesis that vasculitic thrombosis of spinal cord vessels leading to ischemic myelomalacia is the mechanism causing postinflammatory syringomyelia.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Neurological Sciences Federation 1992

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