Infections of the Central Nervous System

Infections of the Central Nervous System - an Observational Cohort Study

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.

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).