Tuberculoma of the pons.

A case of a pontine tuberculoma in a 12-year-old male from Somalia is presented. Cranial magnetic resonance imaging, performed in Abu Dhabi 1 month before admission in Germany revealed a tumorous lesion in the pons with surrounding edema; a presumptive diagnosis of a pontine glioma was made. Chest radiograph disclosed a pulmonary infiltrate with cavitation, as well as hilar and left mediastinal lymphadenopathy, suggestive of active tuberculosis. Tuberculostatic therapy led to an improvement of the patient's clinical status and a significant reduction in the size of the pontine tuberculoma. Intracranial tuberculomas rarely are seen in industrialized countries. They should, however, be considered as an important part of the differential diagnosis of intracranial space-occupying lesions. In most cases, as in this patient, conservative therapy provides good or excellent results.