Cardiac concentric hypertrophy in children with hydrocephalus due to tuberculous meningitis.

During a necropsy on a child with internal hydrocephalus due to tuberculous meningitis, concentric hypertrophy of the left ventricle of the heart was noticed. Since that observation further cadavera were examined in greater detail for evidence of hypertension. In six out of a consecutive series of 16 deaths from tuberculous meningitis treated with streptomycin at the Sheffield Children's Hospital evidence was found suggesting hypertension. Ca Se Case 1. The child's illness began with a cough at the age of 17 months, and he developed signs of tuberculous meningitis five months later. He had been undergoing streptomycin treatment for 18 months before death at the age of 3 years and 1 month. At necropsy, the body was seen to be emaciated. There was opisthotonos, and the limbs were in an extreme spastic posture. There was marked internal hydrocephalus with much exudate at the base of the brain and over the cisterna magna. There was dilatation of the fourth ventricle with thinning