SYRINGOMYELIA AND SYRINGOBULBIA FOLLOWING TUBERCULOUS MENINGITIS

Tuberculous meningitis may rarely be followed by the development of a syrinx even after apparently successful chemotherapy. There are only six previously reported cases of this unusual complication; these are reviewed. A case is described of syringomyelia which developed 1 year after TBM. One year later magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated not only the spontaneous resolution of the syringomyelia but also the appearance of a new cavity within the brain stem. This surprising sequence of events illustrates the need for extensive studies of the natural history of syrinxes of differing aetiologies. © 1990 Springer-Verlag.