Cerebellar abscess

Fourteen patients with cerebellar abscesses, of a total of 116 brain abscesses treated at our clinic between 1987 and 1992, were analysed retrospectively. Of 14 cases, 11 were male, 3 were female, The youngest of the cases was 7, while the oldest was 58, and average age was 32.4. Five patients were comatose on admission, Mastoiditis in 6 patients, otitis in 3 patients and pulmonary infection in 1 patient appeared to be the primary foci of infection, In 4 cases no primary infective focus was determined. The periods between the commencement of symptoms and the time of admission to the hospital were as follows: 0-2 weeks in 2 cases, 3-4 weeks in 5 cases and 4-8 weeks in 7 cases, The primary complaints on admission were headache, unconsciousness and unsteadiness, The most frequent findings were cerebellar ataxia, nystagmus and unconsciousness. The lesions in patients were established by computerized tomography, Drainage through a single burr hole was performed in all patients, Samples were taken for culture from all of the cases and microorganisms were isolated from 8 but nothing was grown in the 6 patients, The mortality was 21.4% in this series. (C) Pearson Professional Ltd 1997.