Neurologia medico-chirurgica
-
Neurol. Med. Chir. (Tokyo) · Aug 1992
Risk factors for brain abscess in patients with congenital cyanotic heart disease.
Brain abscess is a serious complication of congenital cyanotic heart disease. We retrospectively evaluated the risk factors for brain abscess in 21 such patients treated between 1975 and 1990 in comparison with a control group. ⋯ Patients with congenital cyanotic heart disease may develop minute encephalomalacia due to severe hypoxemia and increased blood viscosity resulting from compensatory polycythemia. The increased blood viscosity and reduced blood flow in the microcirculation may induce cerebral thrombosis or exaggerate minute encephalomalacia during dehydration or cardiac dysfunction, and shunted blood containing infectious organisms at such sites may be followed by focal cerebritis.