Intracranial Tuberculoma in Native Races of Canada: With Special Reference to Symptomatic Epilepsy and Neurologic Features.

In the period from 1947 to 1962, 49 cases of intracranial tuberculoma were observed and studied at the Charles Camsell Hospital, Edmonton, Alberta, among Canadian Indians and Eskimos. Thirty-six of these cases had no pre-existing clinical meningitis. Well-marked intracranial calcification was present in 60% of skull radiographs, contrasted with 1 to 6% reported in the world literature; 45% of the patients suffered from convulsions. A patient with chronic healed tuberculoma presenting with seizures and or hemiplegia or other neurologic signs was relatively common. Treatment by antituberculous drugs in the acute cases was highly satisfactory, and surgical intervention was rarely necessary, being carried out in only three cases.