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Published on: December 23, 2022

Adult brain abscess associated with patent foramen ovale: a case report

Georgios T Stathopoulos1, Christina G Mandila, Georgios V Koukoulitsios

  • 1Intensive Care Unit, General Hospital "G, Gennimatas", Athens, Greece. gstathop@med.uoa.gr.

Journal of Medical Case Reports
|August 28, 2007
PubMed

Insights

A patent foramen ovale, a heart condition, may allow dental infections to spread to the brain, causing brain abscesses in adults. This case highlights a potential link between silent heart defects and brain infections.

Area of Science:

  • Neurology
  • Cardiology
  • Infectious Diseases

Background:

  • Brain abscesses typically arise from local or metastatic septic spread, with the primary infection often unidentified.
  • While congenital heart disease is recognized in pediatric cases, minor intracardiac right-to-left shunting via patent foramen ovale is less commonly associated with adult brain abscesses.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the potential association between a patent foramen ovale and the development of brain abscess in adults.
  • To highlight a case of brain abscess linked to dental-gingival sepsis and a patent foramen ovale.

Main Methods:

  • Case report of a 53-year-old male patient with brain abscess and dental-gingival sepsis.
  • Review of relevant medical literature concerning patent foramen ovale and brain abscess.

Main Results:

  • The patient presented with a brain abscess secondary to dental-gingival sepsis.
  • A patent foramen ovale was identified as a potential route for paradoxical pathogen dissemination to the brain.

Conclusions:

  • A silent patent foramen ovale may represent an underappreciated risk factor for brain abscess in adults.
  • This case suggests a link between patent foramen ovale, paradoxical embolism, and brain abscess development, particularly in the context of dental sepsis.

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