Otogenic intracranial abscess.

Middle ear is separated from middle cranial fossa by thin plate of bone known as tegmen tympani and from the sigmoid sinus by sinus plate. The chronic middle ear disease such as granulation or Choesteotoma can errode tegmen tympani or posteriorly the sinus plate and lead to intracranial complications. The most important to otolaryngologist is the brain abscess and sinus thrombophlebitis. Any patient with history of prolonged ear discharge associated with headache vomiting and bradycardia should be strongly suspected for brain abscess and treated accordingly. Twenty-four cases of otogenic intracranial abscess were seen over 20 years by Snell et al and 139 by Bradlay et al over 30 years, indicating its low occurrence in the developed countries. A high occurrence of this disease (34 cases in 4 years) in our country prompted us to study otogenic intracranial abscess in detail.