Table 1. Summary of reported medical management strategies and clinical and radiologic outcomes of intracranial tuberculoma case series.
| Study,
First author, year published, country |
Study design | Patients,
n (age group) 1 |
Duration of
ATT, Months: % |
Steroid
use,% |
Favorable clinical
outcome, %, (n/N) 2 |
Radiologic persistent
tuberculoma(s), % (n/N): months F/U |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Afghani 67, 1994, multiple | Case report +
review |
41
(C + A) |
10-24:100 | 80 3 | 68 (25/37) | N/A |
| Anuradha 32, 2011, India | Retrospective
observational |
43
(C + A) |
9: 100 | 100 | 26 (11/43) | 79 (30/38): 9 |
| Awada 33, 1998, Saudi Arabia | Retrospective
observational |
18
(C + A) |
12-18: 100 | 67 | N/A | 100 (18/18): 12 |
| Bayindir 68, 2006, Turkey | Retrospective
observational |
23
(C + A) |
12-18: 100 | N/A | 100 (15/15) | N/A |
| Gupta 69, 1990, India | Prospective
observational |
31
(C + A) |
11-12: 97 | N/A | N/A | 14 (4/29): 12 |
| Gupta 8, 2003, India | Prospective
observational |
9
(C + A) |
16: 11
18-34: 88 |
89 | 44 (4/9) | N/A |
| Harder 70, 1983, Saudi Arabia | Retrospective
observational |
20
(C + A) |
12: 61
9-24: 39 4 |
75 | 35 (7/20) | 0 (0/10): 12 5 |
| Idris 65, 2007, Sudan | Retrospective
observational |
16
(A) |
18: 100 6 | 56 | N/A | 13 (2/16): 18 |
| Li 66, 2012, China | Retrospective
observational |
6
(A) |
18: 100 | 33 | 83 (5/6) | N/A |
| Man 36, 2010, France | Retrospective
observational |
23
(A) |
9-18: 88
21: 12 4 |
43 | 53 (10/19) | 75 (12/16): 9-21 |
| Marais 12, 2019, South Africa | Retrospective
observational |
66
(A) |
≥9: 96%
19-46: 54 4 |
76 | 37 (20/54) | 49 (20/41): 18
33 (14/42): 24 |
| Nair 9, 2019, India | Retrospective
observational |
86
(C + A) |
≥18: 100
>24-120: 22 |
N/A | N/A | 22 (19/86): 24 |
| Poonnoose 23, 2003, India | Retrospective
observational |
28
(C + A) |
≥18: 100 | 54 | 68 (19/28) | 69 (19/28): 18
46 (13/28): 24 |
| Rajeswari 24, 1995, India | RCT | 108
(C + A) |
9: 100 4 | 100 | 90 (97/108) | 22 (20/91): 9
12 (11/89): 24 |
| Ravenscroft 59, 2001, South Africa | Prospective
observational |
34
(C) |
≥6: 100
12: 6 |
N/A | N/A | 44 (14/32): 6 7 |
| Shah, 2016 64, India | Prospective
observational |
28
(C + A) |
≥12: 100
18-24: 17 8 |
79 | N/A | 17 (4/24): 12
13 (3/24): 24 |
| Shah, 2019 11, India | Case series | 6
(C) |
23-32: 100 | 83 | 83 (5/6) | 83 (5/6): >24 |
| Tandon 71, 1985, India | Retrospective
observational |
50
(C + A) |
12-18: 98 | N/A | 78 (39/50) | 40 (20/50): N/A |
| Wasay 46, 2004, Pakistan | Retrospective
observational |
102
(C + A) |
9-12: 100 4 | 79 4 | 34 (17/50) | NA |
| Yaramis 72, 1998, Turkey | Retrospective
observational |
4
(C) |
12: 100
24: 50 |
100 | 100 (4/4) | N/A |
Abbreviations: n, number; ATT, antituberculous therapy; N, number with known data; F/U, follow-up, C, children; A, adults; N/A, data not available; RCT, randomized controlled trial
1 All studies included HIV-uninfected patients or patients with unknown HIV status, except studies by Man et al. 36 and Marais et al. 12, that included 7, and 47 HIV-infected patients, respectively;
2 The definition varies between studies and include descriptions such as “complete recovery”, “no neurological disability”, “asymptomatic” and unspecified “good clinical recovery”. Several studies included patients with co-existing tuberculous meningitis that might have influenced clinical outcomes.
3 Including 30 patients with available data
4 Including patients followed up for at least 9 months
5 Including patients treated medically without surgical intervention
6 Excluding 1 patient who died during therapy
7 “32” refers to number of meningeal tuberculomas in 25 patients
8 Including patients followed up for at least 12 months