ABSTRACT
The incidence of tubercular meningitis leading to obstructive hydrocephalus is extremely rare accounting for 1% cases and is even rarer during pregnancy. A 20-year-old 2nd Gravida presented at 32 weeks gestation with complaints of intermittent headache, decreased vision since 3 months and irrelevant talks and agitated behavior since 1 day. On examination patient had stable vital signs but constant irritable behavior. Obstetric examination revealed a pregnancy corresponding to 32 weeks with a live fetus. Patient had a past history of Anti-tubercular therapy taken 2 years back for tubercular meningitis. Neurological examination revealed a GCS of 12/15 and Ophthalmologic examination revealed patient to be having only Perception of Light with optic atrophy on fundoscopy. NCCT head revealed moderate dilatation of bilateral ventricles and 3rd ventricle without any periventricular ooze suggestive of Chronic Obstructive Hydrocephalus. Supportive therapy was instituted with Dexamethasone and Mannitol infusion after Neurosurgical consultation along with antenatal care. Decision for termination of pregnancy was taken at 35 weeks by an elective caesarean section with simultaneous ventriculo-peritoneal shunt insertion by neurosurgical team under general anesthesia. A live male baby of 2.25 kg was delivered. Patient with baby was discharged on 10th post-operative day. Obstructive hydrocephalous developing post tubercular meningitis in pregnancy is a rare event. Caesarean section was done along with shunt surgery in our case. Very few cases have been reported in the medical literature so far.
ABSTRACT
Background: Preeclampsia is a multisystem endothelial disease leading to glomeruloendotheliosis with endothelial leak causing significant proteinuria. It is associated with high maternal and fetal risks and fetomaternal morbidity and mortality. Spot urinary albumin to creatinine ratio (ACR) leads to earlier detection of glomerular damage leading to prompt management of preeclamptic patients. To determine the accuracy of Spot Urinary ACR as an indicator to detect proteinuria and its use as a rapid alternative test over 24-hour urinary protein in women with Preeclampsia and to find the correlation between the two.Methods: Spot urinary ACR was measured in 70 consecutive patients with preeclampsia in Assam Medical College, Dibrugarh. The best cut-off value to differentiate between significant and insignificant proteinuria was calculated. The mean, standard deviation and range of various parameters were computed and various statistical tests were used. The Area under the curve and ROC curve were plotted.Results: The best cut-off value to differentiate significant and insignificant proteinuria was calculated as 291.9 mg/g beyond which adverse fetomaternal outcomes and complications were seen. The correlation coefficient between 24-hour urinary protein and spot urinary albumin to creatinine ratio was 0.922 highly significant. The area under the curve was found to be 0.98 with a standard error of 0.0155 which implied that the discriminant ability of spot urinary ACR to differentiate significant proteinuria from insignificant proteinuria in patients with preeclampsia was found to be 98%. Similar studies mentioned in the table below showed a good correlation between 24-hour urinary protein estimation and spot urinary ACR.Conclusions: Compared with 24-hour urinary protein excretion, spot urinary ACR is a simple and accurate indicator of significant proteinuria and helps to detect fetomaternal outcomes in preeclamptic women which may lead to prompt management to reduce fetomaternal complications.