Postgrad Med J 1999;75:749-750
( December )
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A rare complication of dental
abscesses
A Doss, P N Taylor, P F Down
Department
of Medicine, Dorset County Hospital, Dorchester, Dorset, UK
Correspondence to: A
Doss, Department of Diagnostic Radiology, Royal Hallamshire Hospital,
Sheffield, UK
Accepted 20 April 1999
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
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Introduction |
A 27-year-old cannabis smoker was admitted with a
3-week history of gradually worsening occipital headache. He had been
pyrexial one week earlier, and had been put on an oral course of
amoxycillin by his general practitioner. He had a history of recurrent
dental abscesses and childhood asthma. He was not an intravenous drug abuser.
On examination he was well with a temperature 37.5°C, pulse rate 80 beats/min, blood pressure 130/80 mmHg. He had bilateral papilloedema,
sustained ankle clonus, and brisk knee and ankle jerks. Examination was
otherwise unremarkable. Full blood count, apart from a mean corpuscular
volume of 101 fl, was normal. Liver function tests, urea, electrolytes,
clotting, thrombophilia screen, auto-immune profile, erythrocyte
sedimentation rate, serum electrophoresis and blood cultures were
unremarkable. Visual field testing showed slightly enlarged blind spots
in both eyes. An urgent brain computed tomography (CT) scan was
performed within (figure 1).
| Figure Removed (Available Only in the Full Text) |
Two days following admission he developed . . . [Full text of this article]
