title: Brain stem abscess treated surgically. Wtih special note upon the employment of thorium dioxide.
abstract: A 10-year-old girl, with congenital heart disease, harboring a brain stem abscess, was recently treated at the UCLA Hospital. Needle aspirations of the abscess was performed through a posterior occipital craniectomy, and thorium dioxide (Thorotrast) was placed within the abscess cavity as a marker. Postoperatively, the patient improved temporarily but died 18 days later. Autopsy examination included radioactive analysis of brain and liver tissue. Radioautographs were superimposed on H&E preparations of the abscess wall to localize the extent of activity of the thorium dioxide. The unusual occurrence of this abscess in a young patient, clinically diagnosed and treated by operation, provided a rare opportunity to assess the problem of the surgical accessibility of brain stem abscess as well as to reevaluate a role for thorium dioxide as a marker for intracranial purulent collections.
mesh_terms: D001345:Autoradiography; D001424:Bacterial Infections / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery; D001922:Brain Abscess / Q000150:complications / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D001923:Brain Chemistry; D001933:Brain Stem / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006330:Heart Defects, Congenital / Q000150:complications; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000032:analysis; D010462:Peptostreptococcus; D013911:Thorium Dioxide / Q000032:analysis; D014056:Tomography, X-Ray
chemical_list: D013911:Thorium Dioxide