Otogenic brain abscess: review of 41 cases

Forty-one patients in whom otogenic brain abscess was diagnosed and has been treated since 1968 are presented. Sixty-five percent of the patients were between 5 and 15 years of age. All patients had chronic otitis media, and 95% had cholesteatoma. Abscess was located in the temporal lobe in 54%, in the cerebellum in 44%, and in both locations in 2% of the cases. Most patients had radical mastoidectomy and evacuation of the abscess through the mastoidectomy (61%). In addition to mastoidectomy, burr hole drainage was used in 20% and craniotomy in 15%. The most common micro-organism involved was Proteus. Overall mortality in this series is 29%, but after 1976, when CT became available for the diagnosis and follow-up, the mortality rate was reduced to 10%.