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How Long Does Recovery From Brain Tuberculosis Take?
Question: My mother has TB of the lymph nodes and the brain (she had the first occurrence of tb in the lungs 2 years back and she was cured).Soon after she started taking her medication she had a seizure and that's when we realized that she also had TB in the brain. We continued the TB medication along with some medicine from the neuro surgeon. We also had her tested for drug resistant TB 4 months ago and the results came back NEGATIVE. She has been on TB medication for the past 8 months and she never had another seizure.
Last week, we took a MRI scan of the brain and found that the swelling has not reduced (reduced by 5% which is close to nothing). So we decided to see if the TB in the lymph nodes has reduced and the test results showed that the lymph node TB has reduced over 80%. So both the neuro surgeon and the pulmonary specialist said NO to the second line of drugs for now and wanted to continue with the same TB drugs for few more months and then make a call based on the test results.
Do you know any reason why the lymph node TB has gone down by 80% and the TB in the brain has not gone down? Does brain TB take longer time to cure? Any suggestions and recommendations are greatly appreciated.
Thank You
XXXXXXX
Last week, we took a MRI scan of the brain and found that the swelling has not reduced (reduced by 5% which is close to nothing). So we decided to see if the TB in the lymph nodes has reduced and the test results showed that the lymph node TB has reduced over 80%. So both the neuro surgeon and the pulmonary specialist said NO to the second line of drugs for now and wanted to continue with the same TB drugs for few more months and then make a call based on the test results.
Do you know any reason why the lymph node TB has gone down by 80% and the TB in the brain has not gone down? Does brain TB take longer time to cure? Any suggestions and recommendations are greatly appreciated.
Thank You
XXXXXXX
Brief Answer:
Yes.Brain TB often takes longer time to cure.
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for being on healthcaremagic.com.
I am Dr.Ajay Panwar,a neurologist,here to answer your query.
Yes,its quite often that treatment of brain tuberculosis takes longer time to heal.The duration of treatment frequently exceeds one year and sometimes it may take upto 2 years of antituberculous therapy to treat.
The reason behind this is that the pathogenetic characteristics of the disease are somewhat different in brain,which often require longer duration of therapy to improve.
If you have some further questions,I shall be glad to have you in follow-up.
Regards
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)
Yes.Brain TB often takes longer time to cure.
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for being on healthcaremagic.com.
I am Dr.Ajay Panwar,a neurologist,here to answer your query.
Yes,its quite often that treatment of brain tuberculosis takes longer time to heal.The duration of treatment frequently exceeds one year and sometimes it may take upto 2 years of antituberculous therapy to treat.
The reason behind this is that the pathogenetic characteristics of the disease are somewhat different in brain,which often require longer duration of therapy to improve.
If you have some further questions,I shall be glad to have you in follow-up.
Regards
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Thank You for your reply doctor,
So, would you recommend continuing with the first line of drugs? Is it sufficient to cure the brain TB over time?
Also, is it safe to do MRI scan every 4 months to see the progress in the brain? Want to make sure that the radiation does not have any side effects.
And is there any specific diet you would suggest that will speed up the recovery.
Thank You XXXXXXX
Brief Answer:
Continue same medicines.
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for being in follow-up.
I suggest that same treatment(first line antituberculous drugs) should be continued for now.Let us be hopeful that this will improve the disease.
MRI can be done after few months.Practically speaking,radiation hazards due to occasional exposure,is not a major issue.Except in some circumstances where MRI is contraindicated(like cardiac pacemaker,metallic prosthesis,metallic implants),it should not be withheld due to the risk of radiations.
If you have further questions,I shall be glad to answer else please close the thread,rate it and write a review as your rating will be of help to me.
Regards
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)
Continue same medicines.
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for being in follow-up.
I suggest that same treatment(first line antituberculous drugs) should be continued for now.Let us be hopeful that this will improve the disease.
MRI can be done after few months.Practically speaking,radiation hazards due to occasional exposure,is not a major issue.Except in some circumstances where MRI is contraindicated(like cardiac pacemaker,metallic prosthesis,metallic implants),it should not be withheld due to the risk of radiations.
If you have further questions,I shall be glad to answer else please close the thread,rate it and write a review as your rating will be of help to me.
Regards
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Thank You Doctor.
I have one more question, any specific diet you would recommend during this time that could be beneficial?
Brief Answer:
High protein diet.
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for being in follow-up.
Though,there is nothing specifically recommended for diet.However,high protein diet is desirable.Diet should contain necessary vitamins and minerals as well.She may take vitamins/minerals supplementation ,in the form of capsules(like zevit).
Hope that I have answered your query.If you have some further questions,I shall be glad to have you in follow-up else please close the thread,rate it and write a review.
If that's for the day,please get back to me in case you have any query in future.
You can also put up a query directly to me on my HCM address-
http://doctor.healthcaremagic.com/Funnel?page=askDoctorDirectly&docId=69273
Regards
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)
High protein diet.
Detailed Answer:
Hi XXXX,
Thanks for being in follow-up.
Though,there is nothing specifically recommended for diet.However,high protein diet is desirable.Diet should contain necessary vitamins and minerals as well.She may take vitamins/minerals supplementation ,in the form of capsules(like zevit).
Hope that I have answered your query.If you have some further questions,I shall be glad to have you in follow-up else please close the thread,rate it and write a review.
If that's for the day,please get back to me in case you have any query in future.
You can also put up a query directly to me on my HCM address-
http://doctor.healthcaremagic.com/Funnel?page=askDoctorDirectly&docId=69273
Regards
Dr.Ajay Panwar,
MD,DM(Neurology)
Note: For further follow up on related General & Family Physician Click here.
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Sonia Raina
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