Shaw M D, Russell J A
J Neurol Neurosurg Psychiatry. 1975 May;38(5):429-35. doi: 10.1136/jnnp.38.5.429.
Forty-seven cases of cerebellar abscess have been reviewed, 93% of which were secondary to otogenic disease. There has been little change in the annual incidence during the period of time under review. The overall mortality was 41%, but with successive decades the mortality has increased. Three factors appear to be of importance in determining survival: the patient's ability to control his infection; reduction of the effect of the posterior fossa mass, preferably by complete excision of the abscess under antibiotic cover; and, in the case of otogenic abscess, an adequate radical mastoidectomy with bone removal to the site of attachment of the abscess to the dura mater.