[Protective effect of dexamethasone and phenytoin in the treatment of experimental pneumococcal meningitis].

Our results gives support to the antiinflammatory effect of dexamethasone in experimental pneumococcal meningitis, and suggest that phenytoin may have also a protective effect on brain ischemia. This protective action and the prevention of brain edema could contribute, beyond its anticonvulsivant properties, to the great reduction in the mortality rate observed in some clinical studies in patients with pneumococcal meningitis.