Usefulness of contrast enhanced FLAIR imaging for predicting the severity of meningitis

The aim of this study was to evaluate whether contrast enhanced fluid attenuated inversion recovery (CE-FLAIR) imaging can be used to predict the severity of meningitis based on leptomeningeal enhancement (LE) score and cerebrospinal fluid signal intensity (CSF-SI) on CE-FLAIR. We retrospectively analyzed data collected from 43 consecutive patients admitted to our hospital due to meningitis. Clinical factors including initial Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, CSF glucose ratio, log CSF protein, log CSF WBC, and prognosis were evaluated. The LE score was semi-quantitatively scored, and we evaluated CSF-SI ratio at the interpeduncular or quadrigerminal cisterns on CE-FLAIR. We evaluated the differences in clinical variables, LE scores and CSF-SI ratios between the recovery and the complication group. We assessed the correlation between clinical variables, LE scores and CSF-SI ratios. The values of log CSF protein, CSF-SI ratio, and LE score were significantly higher in the complication group (p value < 0.05). GCS score and CSF glucose ratio were significantly lower in the complication group (p value < 0.01). The LE scores had significant negative correlation with GCS scores and CSF glucose ratios (p value < 0.001). The LE score was significantly positively correlated with the value of log CSF protein and CSF-SI ratio (p value < 0.01). The CSF-SI ratio was negatively correlated with GCS score and CSF glucose ratio (p value < 0.01). The CSF-SI ratio was positively correlated with the value of log CSF protein (p value < 0.05). Our results suggest that LE score and CSF-SI ratio are well correlated with clinical prognostic factors. We may predict the clinical severity of meningitis by using LE scores and CSF-SI ration on CE-FLAIR imaging.