Neoplastic meningitis (NM) is diagnosed by the presence of malignant cells in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). We report 3 patients with NM, who were misdiagnosed with infectious meningitis in emergency department (ED). Case 1. A 68-year-old man visited our ED with a 3-month history of headache. With MRI and CSF study, he was diagnosed with tuberculous meningitis. After 20 days, repeated CSF cyto...

Table 1. Comparison of CSF and serum analytes: • Only few cells (12/3 cells or 4cells per μl): lymphocytes, monocytes (mesenchymal) • CSF is formed by the choroids plexus: 500 ml per day, total volume is replaced 2-3 times per day 4.3 Morphological diagnosis of the CSF: How to interpret the cell picture? We do CSF cytology on a cytospun specimen stained according May Giemsa Grünwald. • Inflamma...

Neoplastic meningitis (NM) poses diagnostic challenges and investigations need to be chosen carefully. We present three cases of NM with distinct learning points. In case 1, MRI was diagnostic of melanosis; in case 2, ventricular CSF showed malignant cells when lumbar CSF repeatedly failed to show them; and in the third, whole body PET scan diagnosed the tumour when other tests were negative. A...

BACKGROUND The prognostic significance of Karnofsky performance status in neoplastic meningitis (NM) has not been demonstrated in patient groups similarly matched for known prognostic variables. OBJECTIVE To determine the effect of performance status on survival in NM. DESIGN Retrospective comparison. SETTING A university tertiary medical center. PATIENTS Two well-matched cohorts with c...

Neoplastic meningitis (NM) is a devastating complication of solid tumors with poor outcome. Some randomized clinical trials have been conducted with heterogeneous inclusion criteria, diagnostic parameters, response evaluation and primary endpoints. Recently, the Leptomeningeal Assessment in Neuro-Oncology (LANO) Group and the European Society for Medical Oncology/European Association for Neuro-...

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) analysis very frequently makes the difference to the diagnosis, not only in relation to infections but also in other diseases of the nervous system such as inflammatory, demyelinating, neoplastic and degenerative diseases. The authors review some practical and important features of CSF analysis in infectious diseases of the nervous system, with regard to acute bacteria...

The genus Klebsiella contains Gram negative, capsulated, non-motile bacilli, belonging to the Enterobacteriaceae family (Mackie, 1999). There are five species under this genus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Klebsiella oxytoca, Klebsiella planticola, Klebsiella terrigena, and Klebsiella ornithinolytica. Amongst them, the most common opportunistic and nosocomial pathogen is Klebsiella pneumoniae causing...