Intracranial complications of chronic otitis media

Excerpt

The article by Huseyin Seven, Berna Uslu Coskun, Asli B. Calis, Ibrahim Sayin and Suat Turgut in the European Archives of Otorhinolaryngology (15 June 2005, DOI: 10.1007/s00405-004-0903-0) presents interesting and very important clinical observations [1]. In a retrospective study carried out from 1989 to 2002, the authors analyzed the clinical and therapeutic approaches used for 32 patients with intracranial complications (IC) out of 780 patients treated for chronic otitis media (COM). The presented material consisted of 16 cases of epidural abscesses, 14 cases of cerebral abscesses and 2 cases of subdural empyemas. In the material presented by Seven et al. [1], 16 patients with IC underwent only otological surgery. In 15 cases craniotomy or bur hole for abscess drainage was performed, and the complications in one patient with cerebellar abscess resolved completely within 3 weeks after mastoid surgery. …