Jahn A J, Snell G E
J Otolaryngol. 1980 Apr;9(2):184-93.
The ear has been recognized as a source of intracranial infection at least since the time of Hippocrates. Not much progress was achieved in the diagnosis and treatment of intracranial sepsis until the latter part of the 19th century when surgeons such as McEwan began a direct surgical attack on brain abscesses. While the advent of the antibiotics in the 1940's and 1950's made a significant reduction in the mortality of meningitis, the surgical treatment of brain abscess has not altered much since then. Newer diagnostic methods such as the CTT scan should help to reduce mortality rates which even recently have varied from 7-40 per cent for brain abscesses.
至少从希波克拉底时代起，耳朵就被认为是颅内感染的一个源头。直到19世纪后期，像麦克尤恩这样的外科医生开始直接对脑脓肿进行外科手术治疗，颅内脓毒症的诊断和治疗才取得了很大进展。虽然20世纪40年代和50年代抗生素的出现使脑膜炎的死亡率大幅降低，但从那时起脑脓肿的外科治疗并没有太大改变。诸如CT扫描等更新的诊断方法应该有助于降低死亡率，即使是最近，脑脓肿的死亡率仍在7%至40%之间波动。
