Intracranial abscesses: a review of treated patients over 20 years.

A series of 49 consecutive patients with an intracranial abscess treated over a 20 year period is analysed and reported. The overall mortality was 28 per cent. The authors regard this figure as quite unacceptable and stress that the combination of isotope scans and computerized axial tomography (CAT) should allow an immediate reduction in mortality to around 10 per cent. The plea is made that whenever a primary source of infection is present the possibility that an intracranial mass could be an abscess is constantly borne in mind. Under such circumstances the patient should be referred immediately to a neurosurgical department (where computerised axial tomography is usually available) without a preceding lumbar puncture.