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Published on: November 16, 2015
Central nervous system complications of acute tonsillitis
1National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, London, UK.
Abstract:
Acute tonsillitis is a common infection of early childhood which may even run a self-limiting course without antibiotic therapy in some cases. Complications are encountered infrequently and rarely assume a life-threatening propensity. Central nervous system involvement has not to our knowledge been described in association with tonsillitis without local abscess formation. We describe three cases in which acute tonsillitis/peritonsillitis was complicated by major central neurological sequelae. The neurological complications encountered in young previously healthy adults were: facial palsy and hemiplegia; superior sagittal sinus thrombosis with communicating hydrocephalus and papilloedema; Guillain-Barré syndrome and facial palsy. The pathogenesis and management is discussed. All patients made satisfactory recoveries, though with minor residual neurological disabilities.
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