Studies of the Cerebrospinal Fluid Circulation in Tuberculous Meningits in Children

Since the introduction by Dandy of the technique of ventriculography (1918) and encephalography (1919) their use has become an indispensable part of neurological investigations. No mention was made of their use in tuberculous meningitis until 1927 when Eckstein reported on the examination of 20 children suffering from this disease. He found varying degrees of hydrocephalus and presumed that this was inevitable in tuberculous meningitis. His view accorded with the usual necropsy findings and thereafter little further work was carried out until the advent of streptomycin. Since then many references have been made to air studies in this disease. Hydrocephalus was frequently found and its causes were analysed by Cairns (1949). In spite of the extensive work on various aspects of tuberculous meningitis treated with streptomycin, only two detailed reports were found on encephalography in presumably unselected groups of cases (Murano, 1948: Schonenberg, 1950).