Brainstem tuberculoma mimicking glioma: The role of antituberculous drugs as a diagnostic tool

Brainstem tuberculomas are uncommon.1,2 The major diagnostic problem with these lesions is the lack of specificity of their clinical and neuroimaging findings. Tuberculomas present with focal neurologic deficits of subacute onset, resembling tumors or other infectious diseases of the brainstem. CT and MRI findings are nonspecific because these lesions appear as ringlike or nodular enhancing lesions, suggesting the diagnosis of a brainstem glioma or another infectious disease.3-5 Failure to recognize brainstem tuberculoma may result in unnecessary biopsy of the lesion on the incorrect assumption of a pontine glioma. This approach may result in meningeal spread of …