Suprasellar tuberculoma presenting as sudden onset blindness in a patient of lupus

Abstract

Tuberculosis can be an opportunistic infection complicating the course of patients receiving prolonged immunosuppression. In these patients, the tuberculosis can involve the central nervous system and can cause diagnostic difficulty due to atypical features. Often, the diagnosis of central nervous system tuberculosis in resource limited settings is indirect, like imaging. But anti-tubercular drugs, given even on empirical basis can be life saving. A case of a young female systemic lupus erythematosus patient (on prolonged steroids) with intracranial tuberculoma is presented here. She presented with blindness and headache and her computed tomography scan showed a calcified mass in the suprasellar location. However, she responded well to anti-tubercular drugs. The differential diagnoses of such lesions are also discussed.