Ventricular empyema associated with severe pyogenic meningitis in COVID-19 adult patient: Case report

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic raised global attention especially due to the severe acute respiratory symptoms associated to it. However, almost one third of patients also develop neurological symptoms. The aim of the present study is to describe the case of a previously health adult that evolved cerebral ventricular empyema in the IV ventricle during COVID-19 infection treatment.

A 49-year-old man with COVID-19 developed pneumonia caused by multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii. After treating adequate treatment, sedation was switched off without showing appropriate awakening. Brain CT was performed with evidence of communicating hydrocephalus. External ventricular shunt (EVD) was implant with intraoperative cerebrospinal fluid suggestive of meningitis with a positive culture for oxacillin-sensitive Staphylococcus hominis. Twenty days after EVD, meningitis treatment was finished and with 2 negative cultures, conversion to ventriculoperitoneal shunt was performed. In the following week, during the evaluation of the patient in intensive care, quadriplegia and absence of spontaneous respiratory movement were evidenced, just maintaining head movement. Brain MRI was performed with a diagnosis of ventriculitis associated with pus collections on the IV ventricle. The patient underwent microsurgical drainage removal of the shunt, with a positive intraventricular collection culture for Klebsiella pneumoniae carbapenemase and multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa, without improvement in the neurological condition. After 14 weeks of hospitalization, the patient died.

It is well known that COVID-19 has potential to directly attack and cause severe damage to the central nervous system; however, ventricular empyema is an extremely rare life-threatening complication.