title: Secondary abscess formation in pituitary adenoma after tooth extraction. Case report.
abstract: The presence of an abscess in a pituitary tumor is a very rare finding. The authors report the case of a 69-year-old man with a pituitary adenoma confirmed by neuroimaging results, in whom a high fever, meningismus, and left-sided ophthalmoplegia developed 4 days after tooth extraction. The results of serial cranial magnetic resonance imaging were highly indicative of an abscess formation within the pituitary adenoma. During surgery the tumor was approached transsphenoidally and removed. Histological examination confirmed the presence of an abscess formation within the pituitary adenoma. It is most likely that the tooth extraction caused a bacteremia, which led to an inflammation with abscess formation within the pituitary adenoma. The authors conclude that invasive dental procedures should be avoided before planned resection of a pituitary adenoma.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurosurgery, Charité, Humboldt-University of Berlin, Germany. skroppen@charite.de
authors.forename: S N
authors.initials: SN
authors.lastname: Kroppenstedt
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Liebig
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Mueller
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Gräf
authors.forename: W R
authors.initials: WR
authors.lastname: Lanksch
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Unterberg
mesh_terms: D000236:Adenoma / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D000368:Aged; D001922:Brain Abscess / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D007016:Hypophysectomy; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000473:pathology; D010911:Pituitary Neoplasms / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D012086:Reoperation; D014081:Tooth Extraction