Clinical Finding and Surgical Outcome of 21 Patients
with Brain Abscess

, Dae Hyun Seo; , Sang-Koo Lee; , Jung Ho Ko

Clinical Article

Journal of Korean Society of Geriatric Neurosurgery 2014;10(1):23-28.
Published online June 30, 2014.

Clinical Finding and Surgical Outcome of 21 Patients with Brain Abscess

Dae Hyun Seo , Sang-Koo Lee , Jung Ho Ko

Department of Neurosurgery, Dankook University College of Medicine, Cheonan, Korea

Abstract

Objective
Brain abscess is a focal intracerebral infection that by a well-vascularized capsule. This study presents the clinical characteristics and postoperative outcomes of stereotactic aspiration and surgical excision of 21 brain abscesses.
Methods
A retrospective analysis of 21 patients between March 2002 and April 2012 about age, sex, presenting symptoms and signs, underlying sources of infection, causative organisms, and radiologic findings, surgical modalities (surgical excision or stereotactic aspiration) were collected. The clinical outcome of patients was assessed using the Glasgow outcome scale (GOS).
Results
The number of patients over 65 years old was 8 (38.1%) and below 60 years old was 13 (61.9%). The group of patients studied was made up predominantly of males (71.4%). The old age group experienced a higher rate of poor outcome than the young age, that was statistically significant (75.0% vs. 23.1%, p=0.032). Finally, although the excision group was composed of more patients who had favorable outcomes than the stereotactic aspiration group, they were not statistically different (66.7% vs. 44.4%, p>0.05).
Conclusion
This study suggests that age might be a key prognostic factor of brain abscess. Other risk factors are less significant and do not differ based on whether stereotactic aspiration or excision was used for the removal of the abscess.

Key Words: Brain abscessㆍStereotactic aspirationㆍSurgical excisionㆍSurgical outcomeㆍGlasgow outcome scale