TUBERCULOMA OF SPINAL CORD

Abstract

The incidence of formation of tuberculous granulomas of the spinal cord is rare enough that we thought it worthwhile to report in detail a case we have recently observed. The first tuberculoma of the spinal cord was described in 1830 by Serre¹in France. During the following 105 years only 87 such cases have been described in the world literature.²In reviewing the literature since 1935, we have been able to find only 84 more cases in the English-speaking literature. The pathogenesis of tuberculoma of the spinal cord is now thought to be³: 1. A tubercle forms in the spinal cord or in the membranes, being blood-borne in the vast majority of instances. 2. This tubercle provokes a reactive phenomenon that causes proliferation of powerful connective tissue elements that form the granuloma. 3. Drainage persists into and by the subarachnoid space. 4. An inflammatory reaction occurs in