Brain abscess of unknown etiology in a 2-year-old child: a case report

Vol. 56 No. 3, 2015

ROMANIAN JOURNAL of MORPHOLOGY and EMBRYOLOGY

Georgeta Ligia Stanescu, Ramona Mihaela Nedelcuta, Dalia Dop, Radu Diaconu, Gigi Calin, Elena Carmen Niculescu, Cristian Gheonea, Radu Stanescu, Liliana Anghelina, Mihail-Relu Stanescu

We present a case of brain abscess necroptically discovered in a 2-year-old child hospitalized in the Pediatrics Clinic of the Filantropia Municipal Hospital, Craiova, Romania. The family, with a poor financial situation, reports previous episodes that may be interpreted as comitial crises. Clinically speaking, he presents a height-weight hypertrophia, vitamin D loss rickets, and psychomotor retardation. At the objective examination, we found a weight of 10 500 g, second and third degree mesocardiac systolic beat and cardiomegaly in the thorax-cardiac-pulmonary X-ray examination. Despite the intensive treatment, death occurs few hours after hospitalization. During the autopsy, there is observed a partial dehiscence of the cranial arch sutures, with a 6/5 cm ovalary cavity in the parietal lobe, containing approximately 200 mL of yellow-green serous liquid, with uneven walls, but with no hemorrhagic or puss infiltrates. The heart is enlarged (in comparison to the general somatic development) of 9/7/4 cm, without any cardiac malformations. The microscopic examination showed degenerative neuronal and ischemic lesions on the left-brain hemisphere. Comparing to the data from specialty literature, we consider it as a yellow brain softening (according to Rokitansky s classification), most probably of an embolic cause.

Corresponding author: Ramona Mihaela Nedelcuta, MD, PhD; e-mail: ramnedelcuta@yahoo.com

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