Otopathology of Pediatric Acute Tuberculous Meningitis—Case Series

Tuberculous meningitis (TBM) is a severe presentation of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis that can cause sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL) similarly to other etiologies of meningitis. The pathophysiology for this group remains unclear. We report a series with 3 temporal bones of infants who died from TBM, showing acute damage to the inner ear, such as fibrosis of the cochlea, organ of Corti atrophy, neuronal loss and internal auditory canal with abundant pus cells, predominantly mononuclear. The cochlear aqueduct, endolymphatic sac/duct and Rosenthal's canal appear to be routes of dissemination from the subarachnoid space to the inner ear.