title: Experience with brain abscesses.
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 congenital cyanotic heart disease (12.8%). Twenty (42%) patients had multiple abscesses. Supratentorial abscesses were commonest (75.9%). Predominant clinical features were fever (87.2%), raised intracranial tension (78.7%) and altered sensorium (53.2%). A total of 38.3% presented with focal neurological deficit and 34% were admitted in Grade III or IV coma. Diagnosis of abscess and monitoring of its evolution was done principally 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 combination of surgical aspiration with or without excision 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics and Neurosurgery, T.N. Medical College and B.Y.L. Nair Hospital, Bombay.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Malik
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Joshi
authors.forename: P W
authors.initials: PW
authors.lastname: Kandoth
authors.forename: U S
authors.initials: US
authors.lastname: Vengsarkar
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D001922:Brain Abscess / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000209:etiology / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome