HISTOPATHOGENESIS OF CEREBRAL ABSCESS

Abstract

Among the earliest reports dealing with cerebral abscesses is that of Morand, 1 who in 1751 described a successfully treated putrid ulcer in the brain. Toynbee 2 as early as 1850 and in the following years, reported the observations at necropsy in several cases of abscess of the brain apparently of otitic origin and remarked on their association with a molluscous tumor in the external meatus of the ear, although it is not clear that he understood the relation between the two. However, it was not until the advent of Macewen's classic work 3 in 1893 that abscess of the brain was considered as anything but a pathologic curiosity. INCIDENCE Pitt, 4 in 1890, collected 57 cases of pyogenic intracranial disease in a series of 9,000 necropsies. Schorstein, 5 in 1909, encountered 21 cases of abscess of the brain in 3,700 necropsies, in 19 of which the abscess was secondary