Abstract

Introduction: Meningitis still remains a condition of significance mortality and morbidity in pediatric practice. Tubercular and bacterial meningitis form an important group of neurological diseases associated with considerable mortality and morbidity in children. Tuberculous meningitis is the most serious complication of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. In children, at the time of primary infection, leptomeninges might get seeded and they may develop this disease subsequently. Aims and Objectives: To Evaluate Various Parameters in Tuberculous Meningitis Methodology: The present study was carried out in the Department of Biochemistry at Government Medical College and Hospital, Aurangabad during the period June 1999 to June 2001. The study was carried out on 8 patients of tubercular meningitis and 20 controls from pediatric age group. The diagnosis of meningitis was made on clinical findings, microscopic examination of CSF, biochemical examination of CSF, culture studies and radiological studies. Estimation of Blood Glucose done by Trinders methods. Estimation of CSF total proteins by turbidometric method (Meulemans I960):- (Wooten I.D.P., 1964). Colorimetric Method used for Estimation of CSF Lactate Dehydrogenas( Reitman and Frankel, 1957; Wooten I.D.P., 1964)were done in Laboratory. Unpaired t –test was used to see statistical significance. Result: The decrease in mean CSF Sugar value in group in Controls and Tuberculousmeningitis is statistically significant (P<0.05). Decrease in mean CSF Sugar /blood sugar ratio in Controls and Tuberculousmeningitisis statistically significant (P<0.05). Increase in mean CSF protein value inControls and Tuberculousmeningitis is statistically significant (P<0.05). The increase in mean CSF GOT value inControls and Tuberculous meningitis. The increase is statistically significant (P<0.05). The increase in mean CSF GPT value in Controls and Tuberculousmeningitisis statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion: Thus we have concluded that CSF GOT, GPT and LDH help the clinician for diagnosing Tuberculous meningitis in addition to the routine investigations.

Keywords: Tuberculous Meningitis, CSF GOT, CSF GPT, CSF LDH.