ABSTRACT
Sixty-one infants aged 0 to 12 months with documented purulent meningitis underwent transfontanellar ultrasonography at the Yaounde Central Hospital. Twenty-eight (45.90%) infants had evidence of complications including communicating hydrocephalus (20 patients; 71.43%), ventriculitis (5; 17.86%), abscess with ventriculitis (2; 7.14%), and cerebral atrophy (1; 3.57%). An analysis of the main epidemiological, bacteriological and clinical parameters found no correlation between the presence of ultrasound evidence of complications and age, sex, or color of the CSF. Conversely, a close correlation was found with both the time elapsed between onset and initiation of treatment and the severity of clinical manifestations (coma, seizures). The authors, recommend routine ultrasound encephalography in infants with meningitis, improved information of parents, and close collaboration between pediatric radiologists and neurosurgeons.
Subject(s)
Echoencephalography , Meningitis/diagnostic imaging , Age Factors , Cameroon/epidemiology , Echoencephalography/methods , Female , Humans , Hydrocephalus/diagnostic imaging , Hydrocephalus/epidemiology , Infant , Infant, Newborn , Male , Meningitis/complications , Meningitis/epidemiology , Meningitis/microbiology , Sex Factors , Streptococcal Infections/epidemiology , Time FactorsABSTRACT
Sixty-one children, aged 0 to 12 months, all having meningitis confirmed by bacteriological and biochemical studies of CSF, were subjected to transfontanellar US exploration and clinical follow-up. Thirty-three (54.1%) children were normal, and 28 (45.9%) presented cerebral complications: hydrocephalus 20 cases (71.4%), ventriculitis 5 cases (17.9%), abscess and ventriculitis 2 cases (7.1%) and cerebral atrophy 1 case (3.6%). 36.1% of patients with purulent or turbid CSF presented with complications. 24.6% of complications were due to unidentified bacteria and 11.4% due to pneumococcus group. 90.9% patients with coma, and 76.4% with convulsion showed cerebral complications. The authors recommend routine us exploration of children with confirmed meningitis in tropical milieu.
