Ectopic ossification in tuberculous meningitis.

The syndrome of severe wasting, opisthotonus and paraplegia in flexion associated with considerable hydrocephalus is well known to those treating advanced cases of tuberculous meningitis. Once such a condition has developed, the outlook is generally poor. Many patients will die and the survivors will often be handicapped by a variety of physical and mental sequelae. The purpose of this paper is to describe and discuss a serious complication of tuberculous meningitis which does not seem to have been described before. This consists of ectopic ossification. It only occurred in children with spinal block and paraplegia. During 1950 and 1951 the Tuberculous Meningitis Unit of the Department of Child Health in Sheffield admitted 10 children who developed paraplegia and survived for a minimum period of three months. Ectopic ossification was observed in five of these 10 children, four of whom survived and are alive 16 to 33 months after the onset of meningitis.