Joud Anthony, Bteich Fred, Stella Irène, Klein Olivier
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引用次数: 0
Abstract
Objectives: This study aims to analyze a series of cases admitted with intracranial empyema, either subdural or epidural, secondary to otorhinolaryngological (ENT) infections over a period of 10 years, including the COVID-19 pandemic. The incidence, characteristics, severity, and management of these conditions, as well as the influence of COVID-19, are described below.
Methods: The authors conducted a retrospective review of all of the children admitted to the Pediatric Neurosurgery Department of Nancy with intracranial empyemas secondary to a confirmed sinus (sinogenic) or mastoid (otogenic) infection between 2014 and 2024. They recorded their age, clinical presentation, initial Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score, bacteriological results, as well as the number and type of neurosurgical procedures they were subjected to, and their clinical outcome. These results were compared across two periods: before, and after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Results: Nineteen children in total were surgically treated, with twelve having a subdural location for their empyema, and seven located exclusively in the epidural compartment. The clinical presentation and evolution were positive in all except for one epidural empyema (6/7), and in the majority of the subdural locations (10/12). Twelve patients (63,16%) were treated after the start of the COVID pandemic, including 11 between 2022 and 2023. No differences were observed in patient characteristics, bacterial population and prognosis between these two periods. No patient was proven positive for COVID-19 at the time of their treatment.
Conclusions: Empyemas secondary to ENT infections are potentially serious pathologies, whose prognosis has clearly improved over the years. The incidence has significantly increased during the COVID-19 pandemic, without changing the characteristics or prognosis of the pathology. This increase mainly took place in the last 2 years of the pandemic in our department. The incidence remains even higher than before 2020.
期刊介绍:
Neurochirurgie publishes articles on treatment, teaching and research, neurosurgery training and the professional aspects of our discipline, and also the history and progress of neurosurgery. It focuses on pathologies of the head, spine and central and peripheral nervous systems and their vascularization. All aspects of the specialty are dealt with: trauma, tumor, degenerative disease, infection, vascular pathology, and radiosurgery, and pediatrics. Transversal studies are also welcome: neuroanatomy, neurophysiology, neurology, neuropediatrics, psychiatry, neuropsychology, physical medicine and neurologic rehabilitation, neuro-anesthesia, neurologic intensive care, neuroradiology, functional exploration, neuropathology, neuro-ophthalmology, otoneurology, maxillofacial surgery, neuro-endocrinology and spine surgery. Technical and methodological aspects are also taken onboard: diagnostic and therapeutic techniques, methods for assessing results, epidemiology, surgical, interventional and radiological techniques, simulations and pathophysiological hypotheses, and educational tools. The editorial board may refuse submissions that fail to meet the journal''s aims and scope; such studies will not be peer-reviewed, and the editor in chief will promptly inform the corresponding author, so as not to delay submission to a more suitable journal.
With a view to attracting an international audience of both readers and writers, Neurochirurgie especially welcomes articles in English, and gives priority to original studies. Other kinds of article - reviews, case reports, technical notes and meta-analyses - are equally published.
Every year, a special edition is dedicated to the topic selected by the French Society of Neurosurgery for its annual report.