ABSCESS OF THE FRONTAL LOBE SECONDARY TO ETHMOIDITIS

Abstract

ABSCESS of the brain is a rare complication of sinusitis in general and an extremely rare complication of ethmoiditis in particular. In a series of 14,534 autopsies at the London Hospital, Evans¹found 194 cases of brain abscess, and in only 14 of these was the condition rhinogenic. Onodi²reported 4 cases of rhinogenic brain abscess in a series of 13,400 autopsies, while Courville and Rosenvold³reported 2 cases of brain abscess in their series of 15,000 autopsies. The vast majority of these abscesses were due to infection of the frontal sinus. In Eagleton's⁴series of 104 abscesses of the frontal lobe, only 9 were due to infection limited to the ethmoid sinus. The author has found no record of brain abscess due to infection limited to the ethmoid sinus in the literature during the past seventeen years. Sinusitis is a very common medical entity, and