Experience with brain abscesses

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Brain abscesses were studied in 47 patients. Thirty-four (72%) of them were between 5-15 years and 9 were infants. Otogenic source (34%) was the commonest predisposing factor, followed by scalp and face infection (21.3%) and congeni- tal cyanotic heart disease (12.8%). Twenty (42%) patients had multiple abscesses. Supratentorial abscesses were commonest (75.9%). Predomi- nant clinical features were fever (87.2%), raised intracranial tension (78.7%) and altered senso- rium (53.2%). A total of 38.3% presented with focal neurological deficit and 34% were admitted in Grade III or TV coma. Diagnosis of abscess and monitoring of its evolution was done princi- pally by CT scanning. Causative organisms were isolated in 54.8% of cases and Staphylococci, Proteus and Pseudomonas were the common pathogens. Therapy was most often a combina- tion of surgical aspiration with or without exci- sion in addition to antimicrobial therapy. The overall mortality in our series was 44.7%. Bad prognostic factors were Grade III/IV of coma at admission, age below 2 years and multiple abscesses.