Drug induced aseptic meningitis
Background
- Abbreviation: DIAM
- Two proposed mechanisms
- Direct meningeal irritation by intrathecal drug
- Hypersensitivity reaction to drug (type III and IV)
- Higher predominance in SLE and female gender
Causes
- NSAIDs
- Most common cause
- Antibiotics
- Immunoregulating agents
- IVIGs
- OKT3 monoclonal antibodies
- Misc
Clinical Freatures
- Headache
- Fever
- Nuchal rigidity
- Nausea/vomiting
- General malaise
- Altered mental status
- Less common symptoms include rash, arthralgia, myalgia, facial edema
Differential Diagnosis
Headache
Common
Killers
- Meningitis/encephalitis
- Myocardial ischemia
- Retropharyngeal abscess
- Intracranial Hemorrhage (ICH)
- SAH / sentinel bleed
- Acute obstructive hydrocephalus
- Space occupying lesions
- CVA
- Carbon monoxide poisoning
- Basilar artery dissection
- Preeclampsia
- Cerebral venous thrombosis
- Hypertensive emergency
- Depression
Maimers
- Giant cell arteritis of temporal artery (temporal arteritis)
- Idiopathic intracranial hypertension (Pseudotumor Cerebri)
- Acute Glaucoma
- Acute sinusitis
- Cavernous sinus thrombosis or cerebral sinus thrombosis
- Carotid artery dissection
Others
- Mild traumatic brain injury
- Trigeminal neuralgia
- TMJ pain
- Post-lumbar puncture headache
- Dehydration
- Analgesia abuse
- Various ocular and dental problems
- Herpes zoster ophthalmicus
- Herpes zoster oticus
- Cryptococcosis
- Febrile headache (e.g. pyelonephritis, nonspecific viral infection)
- Ophthalmoplegic migraine
- Superior Vena Cava Syndrome
Aseptic Meningitis
- Viral
- Tuberculosis
- Lyme disease
- Syphilis
- Leptospirosis
- Fungal (AIDS, transplant, chemotherapy, chronic steroid use)
- Noninfectious
Evaluation
- Drug history with focus on time of ingestion and symptom onset
- CSF studies
- Pleiocytosis (primarily neutrophilic)
- Elevated protein levels
- Normal glucose
- Negative cultures
- Challenge test with suspected drug
- Only confirmatory test
- Requires informed written consent
- Due to associated risk, should only be done if suspected drug is irreplaceable
Management
- Discontinuation of offending agent