Bilateral frontal epidural abscess

Abstract

A 19-year-old male with periorbital painful swelling, headache and vomiting was admitted to our clinic. Because of the diagnosis of sinusitis he had received medical treatment in another center two months before, consisting of antibiotics and analgesics. However as a result of valid persistence of the patients' complaints, brain CT and MR imaging were required; showing bilateral epidural abscess. The patient was operated upon through a coronal incision and bifrontal craniotomy, draining both abscesses and removing their membranes. Epidural abscess constitute 5-25% of all the localized intracranial infections. Microorganism colonization may be produced by contiguous infection, hematogenous spread, open cranial trauma or as a consequence of neurosurgical intervention. Sinusitis is one of the most relevant causes of epidural abscesses, mostly in the frontal region. Bilateral occurrence is rare. In this paper a case of bilateral epidural abscess is pre-sent. Diagnosis criteria and treatment approaches are reviewed.