title: Multiple brain abscesses at King Khalid University Hospital.
abstract: The authors reviewed six cases of multiple brain abscesses that were treated at King Khalid University Hospital (KKUH) over an eight year period. This represented 22% of the total brain abscesses treated during the same period. The series is unusual in that the infective pathogens were fungi (Fonsecaea pedrosoi) in two patients (33%) and an aerobic actinomycete (Nocardia asteroides) in one patient (16%). Two patients treated elsewhere with antibiotics empirically for one month died at three and 28 days following admission. The poor outcome was probably related t the delay in obtaining a microbiological diagnosis and commencing the appropriate antimicrobial therapy. The importance of early identification of the pathogen in patients with multiple brain abscesses is stressed.
authors.affiliation: Divisions of Neurosurgery, Neurology, and Department of Mircobiology, King Khalid University Hospital, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Jamjoom
authors.forename: Z A
authors.initials: ZA
authors.lastname: Jamjoom
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Shameena
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Al-Hedaithy
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Tahan
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ur Rahman