Acute actinomycotic brain abscess in a patient with rheumatoid arthritis.

Neuropathology : Official Journal of the Japanese Society of Neuropathology
Masayuki ShintakuYutaka Tsutsumi

Abstract

An autopsy case of acute actinomycotic brain abscess involving a patient with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is reported. The patient was a 72-year-old man with a seven-year history of RA and pulmonary complications, who acutely developed dysarthria and dysphagia three days before death. Autopsy revealed a fresh, non-encapsulated abscess in the "late cerebritis" stage, measuring 2 cm in diameter, in the white matter of the right parietal lobe. A small number of tiny "sulfur granules" consisting of numerous filamentous bacilli were found within the abscess. The abscess had ruptured to the lateral ventricle and elicited ventriculitis, and mild acute purulent leptomeningitis was also observed. The lung showed chronic interstitial pneumonia/pulmonary fibrosis with bronchiectasis and emphysema, and large sulfur granules were found in the lumens of a few bronchi. Less than 5% of patients with actinomycotic infection develop central nervous system lesions, and actinomycotic brain abscesses make up only 0.6% of all brain abscesses. Actinomycotic brain abscesses usually pursue a protracted clinical course, and well-formed pyogenic membranes are commonly observed. The present case is exceptional in that the very early stage of the cerebral ab...Continue Reading

References

Sep 1, 1987·Reviews of Infectious Diseases·R A Smego
Sep 1, 1973·Human Pathology·J R Brown
May 1, 1954·Journal of Neurosurgery·E G KRUEGERP A PRICE
Apr 24, 2014·Infectious Disease Reports·Chad J CooperOgechika Alozie
Jul 31, 2014·The New England Journal of Medicine·Matthijs C BrouwerDiederik van de Beek
Jan 8, 2015·Infection & chemotherapy·Hyun Jung ParkSang-Oh Lee
Apr 7, 2017·Internal Medicine·Fumio YamamotoYukio Ando
May 12, 2018·World Neurosurgery·Niveditha RavindraJitender Saini

❮ Previous
Next ❯

Related Concepts

Related Feeds

Actinomycosis

Actinomycosis is a rare, chronic, and slowly progressive granulomatous disease caused by filamentous Gram positive anaerobic bacteria from the Actinomycetaceae family (genus Actinomyces). The disease is characterised by the formation of painful abscesses in the mouth, lungs,breast or gastrointestinal tract. Discover the latest research on actinomycosis here.

Brain Abscess

Brain abscess is an accumulation of pus caused by inflammation and infected materials in the brain. Symptoms include fever, headache, seizures and other neurological problems. Discover the latest research on brain abscess today.

Related Papers

The Illinois Medical Journal
M TINSLEY, A FROMAN
Revista clínica española
S OBRADORJ L PANIAGUA
Minerva neurochirurgica
A BRICOLO
Zentralblatt für Chirurgie
E BindelW Usbeck
Postgraduate Medical Journal
A MohanR Sharma
© 2021 Meta ULC. All rights reserved