Spontaneous drainage of neonatal cephalohematoma: a delayed complication of scalp abscess

Catalina M Kersten1, Christina M Moellering, Sayonara Mato

  • 1Division of Pediatric Hospital Medicine, Department of Child Health, University of Missouri Health Care, Children's Hospital, Columbia, Missouri 65212, USA. kerstenc@health.missouri.edu

Clinical Pediatrics
|December 7, 2007
PubMed

Neonatal cephalohematomas are known complications of traumatic deliveries, and the majority of cases resolve without intervention. Scalp abscesses are rare and often described as benign complications of fetal scalp monitoring. Spontaneous drainage of a neonatal cephalohematoma, with or without associated scalp abscess, has not yet been described. We present a case of a neonate with recurrent Escherichia coli bacteremia and spontaneous drainage of a large cephalohematoma through an overlying scalp abscess.

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