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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Pathogenesis of intraabdominal abscess formation: abscess-potentiating agents and inhibition of complement-dependent opsonization of abscess-inducing bacteria.

Bacteroides fragilis and Escherichia coli are synergistic in the production of intraabdominal abscesses. However, these bacteria initiate abscess formation only when inoculated with an agent such as autoclaved colonic contents (ACC) or bran (a fiber analogue). The mechanism of action of the abscess-potentiating agent was studied. Opsonins in normal mouse serum were determined for phagocytic killing by murine neutrophils of B. fragilis and E. coli. Opsonization required fixation of complement by the alternative pathway. ACC (0.2 mg/ml) and bran (1.0 mg/ml) inhibited phagocytic killing of Proteus mirabilis in the presence of normal but not immune serum. Assay of the alternative pathway of complement activation indicated that both bacterial components and abscess-potentiating agents in an abscess-inducing mixture activated complement. These findings suggest that abscess-potentiating agents inhibit opsonization and therefore the subsequent phagocytic killing of bacteria in the nonimmune host.

Abscess↗

A quartet of lateral sinus thrombosis, extradural abscess, subdural abscess and occipital abscess: complications of acute mastoiditis in a pre-adolescent child.

Neurological complications of acute mastoiditis are rare but can be life threatening. Their presentation may be masked by the use of antibiotics. We present a unique case of acute otitis media progressing to occipital, extradural and subdural abscess formation and lateral sinus thrombosis in a child. The clinical course and management of a pre-adolescent male is presented and discussed. We review the incidence, presentation and treatment of occipital abscesses and lateral sinus thrombosis with acute mastoiditis. Following extended cortical mastoidectomy, neck exploration and broad spectrum intravenous antibiotics, the patient made a full recovery. This is the first reported case of acute mastoiditis associated with occipital abscess in a child. Early, aggressive treatment is required for a successful outcome. The rarity of neurological complications, in addition to the insidious onset and subtle symptoms associated with antibiotic therapy, can make diagnosis extremely difficult. Patients with acute otitis media who fail to respond fully to treatment should be referred early for a specialist otology opinion.

Acute Disease↗

Neuroimaging findings of the development and resolution of solitary brainstem abscess: characteristics of neuroimagings in the early stage of brainstem abscess and importance of surgical management for brainstem abscess--case report.

A 64-year-old female presented with a solitary brainstem abscess. Magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography demonstrated the development and resolution of the brainstem abscess with an unusual and fluctuating clinical course over several months. Serial neuroimaging examinations are required to detect a brainstem abscess in the early stage to establish the optimum treatment.

Brain Abscess↗

[Nasal septal abscess and palatine process of the maxilla abscess complicating acute rhinosinusitis in a 12-year old boy].

We report a case of nasal septal abscess and palatine process of the maxilla abscess secondary to acute rhinosinusitis in an 12-year-old boy. Rare complication of acute sinusitis is the nasal septum abscess; even rarer is the abscess of the palatine process of the maxilla, which our patient presented. Nasal septum abscess is an reservoir of suppurative secretion between cartilage or bone of the septum and their periostium or perichondrium. Nasal septum abscess is most often bilateral, causing nasal cavities obstruction. Other symptoms are: nasal pain, fever, headache, nasal tenderness, bad general feeling. Spontaneous abscesses of nasal septum are rare and occur due to acute ethmoid or sphenoid sinusitis and inflammations originating from teeth. Patophysiology of nasal septum abscess depends on its etiology. The isolated acute sphenoid sinusitis may lead to occurrence of nasal septum abscess by spreading of inflammatory changes under periostium along the anterior surface of sphenoid bone and damaging the periostium of vomer and perpendicular lamina of ethmoid bone into subperichondrial space of quadrangular cartilage. Inflammation of inferior wall of sphenoid sinus located over fornix of nasopharynx might have lead to appearance of the palatine process of the maxilla abscess. We consider this mechanism of abscess creation occurred in our patient. Another possible mechanism comprehends spreading of inflammatory process through bone fissures, congenital bone malformations of due to thrombophlebitis. Recommended procedure in cases of confirmed nasal septum abscess is surgical decompression from semitransverse incision of the column and abscess drainage. Aspiration and bacteriological culture allow for exact establishment of proper antibiotic treatment. Antibiotic therapy should be conducted for 2-3 weeks according to bacterial sensitivity to chemotherapeutics. In reexamination of our boy's nasal septum cavity of abscess was assessed and a small cartilage defect was noted. Necrotic changes in nasal septum cartilages arise due to ischemia and compression by residual pathological contents between perichondrium and cartilage. Proper recognition and surgical and preservative treatment lead to total recovery. In our boy, control examinations after 2 and 6 months confirmed recovery without recurrence and later complications.

Acute Disease↗

Neutrophil activity in abscess-bearing mice: comparative studies with neutrophils isolated from peripheral blood, elicited peritoneal exudates, and abscesses.

Intraabdominal abscesses were induced in mice by intraperitoneal inoculation of Bacteroides fragilis and Escherichia coli plus bran as the abscess-potentiating agent. Six- or seven-day-old abscesses were mechanically disaggregated in buffer, and the cells obtained were fractionated on discontinuous Percoll density gradients. Neutrophil populations of different density, each approximately 90% pure, were isolated. When the abscess-derived neutrophils were subsequently incubated with normal serum in vitro under aerobic conditions, the viability of the gram-negative bacteria that had been phagocytosed within the abscess did not change significantly. This anergy to intracellular bacteria (on subsequent incubation in vitro under optimal conditions for phagocytic killing) was also found for neutrophils that had been obtained from abscesses induced by a mixture that included Proteus mirabilis plus B. fragilis and from those induced by E. coli plus P. mirabilis. While unable to significantly kill intracellular organisms that had been phagocytosed in vivo, the abscess-derived neutrophils could engulf and kill organisms to which they were exposed in vitro. Neutrophils from abscesses induced by P. mirabilis only plus bran killed that organism introduced in vitro significantly more effectively than the organisms that had been engulfed in vivo. In contrast, neutrophils from abscesses induced by the gram-positive organism Staphylococcus aureus plus bran were able to kill their intracellular organisms on subsequent incubation in vitro as effectively as they could kill added S. aureus. Neutrophils isolated from the peripheral blood and from induced peritoneal exudates of abscess-bearing mice were able to phagocytose and kill organisms in vitro with greater efficiency than abscess-derived neutrophils. The mechanism whereby neutrophils from abscesses induced by the gram-positive organism S. aureus can kill the organisms phagocytosed in vivo on subsequent in vitro incubation, in contrast to the relative anergy to their intracellular organisms displayed by neutrophils derived from abscesses induced by combinations of gram-negative bacteria, is not known.

Abscess↗

Cellular control of abscess formation: role of T cells in the regulation of abscesses formed in response to Bacteroides fragilis.

Although abscesses are a major sequela of infection, little is known about which cellular events initiate and which prevent this pathologic response. These studies are the first to indicate a role for T cells in the important pathogenic process of abscess development and also in immunity to abscesses induced by Bacteroides fragilis. We have shown that T cells initiate the formation of abscesses in mice after i.p. challenge with B. fragilis. These T cells bear both Ly-1 and Ly-2 surface markers. Nude mice (which have been shown by others to have T cell or T cell precursors) are also able to form abscesses. Cyclophosphamide-treated mice (with depressed T cell function) were not capable of developing abscesses. Reconstitution with normal or nude mouse spleen cells restored this ability. However, reconstitution with anti-Thy-1.2-treated, anti-Ly-1, or anti-Ly-2-treated spleen cells (or a mixture of the two cell populations) failed to allow abscess formation after bacterial challenge. Immunity to abscesses caused by B. fragilis requires two T cells. The first Ly-1-2+ T cell has an IJ surface marker and has been shown to release a small m.w. soluble factor (ITF) that is antigen specific. Immunity to abscesses, however, depends on the interaction of ITF with a second Ly-1-2+ T cell, demonstrated in reconstitution experiments with nude mice. The data presented document a critical role for T cells in abscess induction and suggest the existence of a suppressor-like T cell circuit in immunity to abscesses.

Abscess↗

Intracranial abscess as a complication of subperiosteal abscess of the orbit.

PURPOSE: To describe the potential complication of intracranial abscess in the setting of orbital abscess. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed case reports and the literature. Three patients were found to have pansinusitis progressing to subperiosteal abscess of the orbit and subsequent intracranial abscess. RESULTS: Three patients, ages 14, 26, and 57 years, with concurrent pansinusitis, subperiosteal abscess of the orbit, and intracranial abscess were treated with intravenous antibiotics and surgical drainage of the orbital abscess and sinuses. Two of the three patients required drainage of the intracranial abscess. CONCLUSIONS: Although rare, intracranial abscess is a life-threatening complication of orbital abscess. It requires aggressive intervention by a multidisciplinary team.

Abscess↗

[A case of spinal epidural abscess associated with retropharyngeal abscess].

Spinal epidural abscesses are known to occur associated with retropharyngeal abscess, but such cases are few in the literature. We treated a 72-year-old woman who reported pain in the back of the neck. Computed tomography (CT) showed a retropharyngeal abscess extending to the upper neck through the carotid space on the left side and an magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) showed a spinal epidural abscess without cervical vertebral osteomyelitis. The abscess was assumed to reach the epidural space along the nerve root through the intervertebral foramen. Since tonsillitis appeared to cause the retropharyngeal abscess, we performed tonsillectomy, and then drained pus through the superior constrictor muscle, effecting a subsequent cure. Staphylococcus aureus was recovered from both the pus and tonsil, and Streptococcus constellatus, a member of the Streptococcus milleri group, from the tonsil. Based on a review of the literature, clinical courses of spinal epidural abscess associated with retropharyngeal abscess are not always simple, as 4 of the 7 cases found demonstrated poor prognosis. Spinal epidural abscess should be considered a critical complication of retropharyngeal abscess.

Aged↗

Multiple cerebral abscesses because of Listeria monocytogenes: three case reports and a literature review of supratentorial listerial brain abscess(es).

BACKGROUND: Central nervous system involvement often follows bacteremia because of Listeria monocytogenes. Meningitis is clinically the most common manifestation, while brain abscess occurs in about 1% of patients. Brain abscess is usually solitary but in recent years, probably in part because of the availability of computerized tomography and magnetic resonance imaging, several reports have described two or more separate supratentorial abscesses. METHODS: We have described three patients with listerial brain abscesses and reviewed the North American and European literature of brain abscess(es) because of L. monocytogenes through December 2001. We have evaluated the role of underlying diseases and therapeutic immunosuppression on the development of solitary or greater than one brain abscess. RESULTS: In contrast to meningitis, where immunosuppression does not predispose either to disease incidence or to higher mortality, patients with solitary and particularly those with more than one supratentorial abscess usually are immunosuppressed either by disease or by therapy. Corticosteroids in particular are significant predisposing factors, especially in those patients with two or more brain abscesses. Mortality resulting from listerial brain abscess, whether solitary or multiple, is nearly three times higher than nonlisterial brain abscess, probably in part because of both underlying diseases and immunosuppressive therapy. CONCLUSIONS: Therapy with high-dose ampicillin in combination with gentamicin appear to be the drugs of choice, followed by trimethoprim/sufamethoxazole and vancomycin. In general, antimicrobial therapy appears to be satisfactory treatment without surgical intervention.

Adrenal Cortex Hormones↗

Splenic abscess caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae and non-Klebsiella pneumoniae in Taiwan: emphasizing risk factors for acquisition of Klebsiella pneumoniae splenic abscess.

Klebsiella pneumoniae was recently reported to be the major pathogen causing pyogenic splenic abscess in Taiwan. To better understand the characteristics of K. pneumoniae splenic abscess, which may be helpful in alerting clinicians to this infection entity when dealing with a suspicious patient, patients hospitalized between January 1981 and December 2002 with the diagnosis of splenic abscess were included in a retrospective study. Among the 38 enrolled patients, 9 (23.7%) suffered from K. pneumoniae splenic abscess. Compared to those with non-K. pneumoniae splenic abscess, patients suffering from splenic abscess caused by K. pneumoniae had a higher prevalence of underlying diabetes mellitus (88.9% vs 37.9%; p = 0.006) and higher incidence of concomitant liver abscess (44.4% vs 0%; p < 0.001) caused by the same pathogen. When dealing with patients suffering from K. pneumoniae splenic abscess, clinicians should work up to exclude a concomitant liver abscess caused by the same pathogen.

Abscess↗

Amebic liver abscess: a study of 11 cases compared with a series of 38 patients with pyogenic liver abscess.

Amebic liver abscess is an uncommon disease in the northern states of North America with 11 cases seen among approximately 500,000 Mount Sinai Hospital admissions over a 16-year period. Five of 11 cases originated in, or had recently visited South America. In three of these, and two patients with concomitant intestinal amebiasis, the diagnosis was suspected on admission. Diagnosis after admission was rapid, mean 5 days, compared with a mean of 13 days in pyogenic liver abscess. There was a higher incidence of male patients, nine males versus two females which was greater than the excess found in our pyogenic abscesses, 22 versus 16. Multiplicity was less common than in pyogenic abscess, 27 versus 50%, respectively. All three patients with multiple abscesses survived with surgical drainage and antibiotic therapy despite numerous complicating factors, including secondary bacterial infection. One patient resolved with drug treatment only; all others were treated with drugs and concomitant drainage; surgical drainage in earlier cases, and percutaneous drainage more recently. There was a single postoperative death. Drug treatment is the first therapeutic modality, and if recovery is delayed more than 2 days percutaneous aspiration should be carried out. This was successful in four cases. Surgery should seldom be required with present methods of accurately localizing amebic liver abscess, but is essential for ruptured abscess with peritonitis, and liver abscess with associated intestinal problems such as toxic megacolon, colonic perforation, or fulminating colitis. There has been a significant reduction in mortality of amebic liver abscess over the past 50 years and particularly within the past decade.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Adult↗