[Cerebral abscess and Osler-Rendu disease. Apropos of 4 cases]

The authors report 4 cases of cerebral abscesses (C.A.) complicating Rendu Osler disease (hereditary haemorrhagic telangiectasia: H.H.T.). These cases and 43 others comparable found in literature enable to assess C.A. complicates H.H.T. by the way of pulmonary arteriovenous fistulas (P.A.V.F.). C.A. appears during known H.H.T. in only a quarter of cases; in all other cases C.A. reveals the disease. When the etiological search for metastatic C.A. fails to find any classical cause: O.R.L., stomatologic, cardiac, it seems important to suspect H.H.T., and research P.A.V.F. by chest X ray and pulmonary angiography. Preventive treatment consists in excluding pulmonary fistulas without waiting neurological complications of known H.H.T.