Acute Bilateral Oculomotor Nerve Palsy in an Adult Patient with Neisseria meningitidis.

A 69-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with a fever, dizziness, and headache caused by Neisseria meningitidis. After ceftriaxone was administered, she suddenly developed bilateral oculomotor nerve palsy. Intra-orbital magnetic resonance imaging using appropriate sequences revealed that her bilateral third intracranial nerves were enlarged and enhanced. She achieved complete recovery by two months after additional short-term treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin and methylprednisolone. Although intracranial nerve disorders that result from bacterial meningitis are most frequently reported in children, it is noteworthy that it can also cause focal intracranial nerve inflammation with ophthalmoparesis in N. meningitidis infection in adults.

Transcranial Doppler in pediatric emergency and intensive care unit: a case series and literature review.

PURPOSE: Transcranial Doppler (TCD) has been used for more than 30 years in clinical practice. Although adult intensive care is relatively well covered, pediatric cases are still underrepresented. We intend to review a series of pediatric cases where TCD was determinant in clinical decisions and a literature review on this topic. METHODS: We describe cases with different pathologies where TCD had an important role in clinical management of the patients. We discuss TCD utility and potential role both in the emergency department and the intensive care unit. RESULTS: Five patients with different neurologic insults are presented. TCD was useful in the identification of intracranial hypertension in traumatic brain injury, hydrocephalus and central nervous system infection; identification of decreased cerebral perfusion pressure in hypovolemic shock and the diagnosis of impending cerebral circulatory arrest in a child with meningococcal septicemia. We discuss how TCD can be used in emergency and intensive care settings, reviewing relevant literature and our own experience. CONCLUSIONS: Non-invasive testing using TCD can aid clinical decisions. More widespread use of this technique will allow for better care of children with neurologic insults.

Atypical clinical presentation of meningococcal meningitis: a case report.

A young woman was examined in the Emergency Department for fever, pharyngitis and widespread petechial rash. Physical examination, including neurological evaluation, did not show any other abnormalities. Chest X-ray was negative. Blood exams showed leukocytosis and CPR 20 mg/dL (nv<0.5 mg/dL). On the basis of these results and petechial rash evidence, lumbar puncture was performed. CSF was opalescent; physico-chemical examination showed: total proteins 2.8 (nv 0.15-0.45), glucose 5 (nv 59-80), WBC 7600/µL (nv 0-4/ µL). In the hypothesis of meningococcal meningitis, antimicrobial therapy was started. Blood and cerebrospinal fluid cultures were positive for N. meningitidis. During the first hours the patient experienced hallucinations and mild psychomotor agitation, making a spontaneous recovery. A brain MRI showed minimal extra-axial inflammatory exudates. She was discharged after 10 days in good condition. We underline the need to consider meningococcal meningitis diagnosis when any suggestive symptom or sign is present, even in the absence of the classic meningitis triad, to obtain earlier diagnosis and an improved prognosis.

A 2-month-old girl with bifrontal/bitemporal meningococcal subdural empyema: complete radiological and clinical recovery after treatment.

This report describes a 2-month-old girl who developed a subdural empyema as a rare complication of meningococcal disease. The initial presentation was compatible with bacterial meningitis and sepsis and remarkable only for a lymphocytic pleocytosis of the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), which was confirmed at a later occasion. After a week, when the patient continued to have fever, and subsequently developed focal seizure activity, MRI brain revealed a subdural empyema, necessitating craniectomy with a washout. Initial CSF and blood cultures were negative, but PCR analysis of the CSF from the primary lumbar puncture was positive for Neisseria meningitidis. She responded well to 6 weeks of intravenous meropenem and CT scan of the brain at the end of the treatment was normal. At 4-month follow-up, she was seizure-free with normal neurological examination and development.

Cerebral abscess associated with meningococcal meningitis.

Purulent fluid collections, including brain abscess and subdural empyema, are exceedingly rare in association with meningococcal meningitis. We present a 5-month-old infant with meningococcal meningitis and sepsis complicated by an intracerebral abscess.

Fatal acute cellulitis due to Neisseria meningitidis.

We describe the first fatal evolution of cellulitis due to Neisseria meningitidis serogroup Y involving an 85-year-old woman. She presented with an extensive cellulitis of the left side of the face, neck, and thorax and septic shock. In spite of active antibiotic therapy, evolution was rapidly fatal.

[Unilateral adrenal hemorrhage--a Waterhouse-Friderichsen syndrome?]. / Einseitige Nebennierenblutung--ein Waterhouse-Friderichsen-Syndrom?

A 5-year-old girl presented with a clinical picture of rapidly progressing acute meningococcal sepsis. A routine bedside abdominal ultrasound examination which was done daily showed on the 2nd and 3rd hospital day massive right adrenal hemorrhage with extension into the retroperitoneal fat tissue and intraperitoneal space. The left adrenal gland remained unchanged.

Does computed tomography have a role in the evaluation of complicated acute bacterial meningitis in childhood?

The authors examined the records of 30 children with bacterial meningitis to review the role of computed tomography (CT) of the brain in acute management of the disease. CT was normal for 10 patients, six of whom had clinical evidence of raised ICP. CT identified an underlying surgical abnormality in two patients with progressive focal neurological signs. One patient had unsuspected gross hydrocephalus diagnosed by CT, which required neurosurgery. This study shows that the management of bacterial meningitis is influenced by CT in only a minority of cases; for patients with clinical signs of raised ICP, it was found to be insensitive in confirming the clinical diagnosis and establishing an underlying cause. However, CT remains valuable in the management of children with progressive neurological signs for whom neurosurgical intervention may be necessary.

[Apropos of a case of recurrent meningitis]. / A propósito de un caso de meningitis recurrente.

The recurrent meningitis associated with spontaneous CSF rhinorrhea in a 4-year-old boy was found to be due to simultaneous congenital defects. There was a dehiscence of the anterior fossa associated with congenital changes in the temporal bone, the petrous bone and the stapes. All these defects were visible including demineralization of the footplate stapes region. The high-resolution X-ray CT served as a clear guide to the surgeon.

Prospective study of computed tomography in acute bacterial meningitis.

We performed serial CT scans at the time of admission and discharge, and again after 6 to 18 months, in children older than 2 months of age with bacterial meningitis. During the 2-year study period, 60 patients with bacterial meningitis were admitted to British Columbia's Children's Hospital. Forty-one were included in the study, two of whom died soon after admission. The infecting organism was Haemophilus influenzae in 29, Neisseria meningitidis in six, and Streptococcus pneumoniae in six. Abnormalities on the first two CT scans included subdural effusion in eight patients, focal infarction in five, and pus in the basal cisterns in one. All patients with focal infarction or cisternal pus had hemiparesis. Marked cerebral edema was seen in the two patients who died. Transient mild dilation of the subarachnoid space was a common finding; the size of the ventricles or subarachnoid space was increased on the second scan in 29 of 36 patients, and decreased to normal on the third scan in 30 of 33 patients. Clinical management was not influenced by the CT findings, which failed to reveal any clinically significant abnormalities that were not suspected on neurologic examination.

CT parenchymal abnormalities in bacterial meningitis: clinical significance.

Over a 5 year period, 80 children with acute bacterial meningitis underwent computed tomography (CT) because of neurologic complications. In nine children, CT disclosed parenchymal abnormalities. The type of parenchymal abnormality was classified as mild, moderate, or severe on the basis of the severity and location of brain injury. All children had neurologic deficits at the time they underwent CT. The seven surviving children were followed for a mean of 32 months. The four children with either mild or moderate CT changes recovered without neurologic sequelae. The five children with severe CT abnormalities either died (two) or survived with major neurologic (two mentally retarded; three major motor deficits) sequelae. Computed tomography is of prognostic value in children with bacterial meningitis.