Septic-embolic and septic metastatic brain abscess

The hematogenous spread of bacteria, fungi and protozoa may also reach the brain vessels, which happens mostly through septic emboli. From such an embolus a metastatic focal encephalitis and later a septic-embolic brain abscess may arise. The most frequently underlying infections that may cause sept...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Radiologe 2000-11, Vol.40 (11), p.1017
Main Authors: Weber, W, Henkes, H, Felber, S, Jänisch, W, Woitalla, D, Kühne, D
Format: Article
Language:ger
Subjects:
Brain - pathology
Brain Abscess - diagnosis
Brain Abscess - etiology
Brain Abscess - pathology
Embolism, Paradoxical - diagnosis
Embolism, Paradoxical - etiology
Embolism, Paradoxical - pathology
Encephalitis - diagnosis
Encephalitis - etiology
Encephalitis - pathology
Humans
Intracranial Embolism - diagnosis
Intracranial Embolism - etiology
Intracranial Embolism - pathology
Magnetic Resonance Imaging
Meningitis, Bacterial - diagnosis
Meningitis, Bacterial - etiology
Meningitis, Bacterial - pathology
Tomography, X-Ray Computed
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Summary:The hematogenous spread of bacteria, fungi and protozoa may also reach the brain vessels, which happens mostly through septic emboli. From such an embolus a metastatic focal encephalitis and later a septic-embolic brain abscess may arise. The most frequently underlying infections that may cause septic emboli are bacterial endocarditis as well as bacterial infections of artificial heart valve prostheses. Congenital heart malformations with a right-to-left shunt also play here a certain role. Basically, however, all septic conditions and bacteriemias may cause septic-embolic brain abscesses. They occur frequently as multiple lesions. MRI is superior to CT in depicting the different stages of evolution from focal encephalitis, through the hardly encapsulated early abscess, to the formation of a membrane and later a dense fibrous capsule. The medical treatment of a brain abscess requires properly performed CT or MRI follow-up examinations in order to realize early enough a possible growing of such a lesion.
ISSN:0033-832X