Infections of the Central Nervous System

University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland

Overview

This study is to describe the incidence of infectious meningitis and/or encephalitis, and to analyze clinical, diagnostic and treatment characteristics of patients with suspected (and subsequently verified and not verified) infection.

The specific aims of the study include: 1. To assess the incidence, the diagnostic workup, and the treatment characteristics of patients with suspected and confirmed ME. 2. To examine clinical differences between patients with initially suspected and confirmed infectious Meningitis (ME) versus those with suspected but not confirmed infectious ME. 3. To evaluate potentially prognostic factors for pathological CT findings (especially expanding cerebral mass lesions) in patients with suspected infectious ME. 4. To identify a specific group of patients that benefit from cranial CT prior to LP. 5. To examine possible complications (e.g., hematoma, postpuncture headache, cerebral herniation, …) of lumbal punction (LP) and their correlations to pathologic signs on cranial CT. 6. To compare the outcome between patients with suspected infectious ME and cranial CT prior to LP versus patients without prior cranial CT.

Study Type

OBSERVATIONAL

Conditions

Adult Patients With Suspected Meningitis and/or Encephalitis

Interventions

collection of patient dataOTHER

Patient data will be obtained using digital patients records systems. The following data will be assessed: Demographics and baseline patient characteristics (e.g., gender, age, hospital admission and discharge dates), diagnoses, comorbidities (history of meningitis and/or encephalitis, epileptic disorders, remote stroke, remote intracranial bleeding, remote autoimmune disease, neurodegenerative disorders), laboratory features (blood cultures, lumbar puncture), features of neuroimaging (e.g., time admission-to-CT), therapeutic features (incl. time admission-to-treatment), Patients' outcome measures (Glasgow Outcome Score)

Eligibility

Sex: ALLMin age: 18 Years

Medical Language ↔ Plain English

Inclusion Criteria: * All patients aged ≥18 years admitted to the University Hospital Basel with confirmed infectious meningitis and/or encephalitis as principal and/or secondary diagnosis from January 2006 to December 2021 with or without cranial CT prior to LP * All patients aged ≥18 years admitted to the University Hospital Basel over the same time period with suspected infectious meningitis and/or encephalitis as principal and/or secondary diagnosis with or without cranial CT Exclusion Criteria: * Patients without suspected infectious meningitis and/or encephalitis. * Patients with the diagnosis of meningitis/encephalitis confirmed prior to hospital admission * Patients who have refused "General Consent" (i.e., written agreement of patients which allows the further use of their collected medical data for research purposes in encoded form).

Locations (1)

Clinic for Intensive Care Medicine, University Hospital Basel

Basel, Switzerland