Otitic cerebellar abscess / by Heinrich Neumann ; translated by Richard Lake.

Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Otitic cerebellar abscess / by Heinrich Neumann ; translated by Richard Lake. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    permanganate of potash were successful in controlling the profuse secretion, and the abscess cavity did not show the slightest inclination to heal. In addition the secretion was intensely fcetid in character. On bacteriological investigation, a pure culture was obtained of these obligatory anaerobic bacilli. It is worthy of note that all animals are refractory to these microbes. It is difficult to say in what way they become pathogenic. Possibly the cholesteatoma of the middle ear may be the elective nutrient medium, acting in association with the deficiency or failure of the supply of oxygen, and thus producing activity of these bacilli. Ill SYMPTOMATOLOGY The clinical picture of cerebellar abscess shows but few definite characteristics, so that the establishment of a uniform syndrome for otitic cerebellar abscess presents great difficulty. The parts of the brain surrounding the abscess as a rule experience encephalitic change or oedematous saturation, and the symptoms of irritation and motor (or disturbance of equilibrium) symptoms set up by the last-mentioned alterations interfere with the clinical picture to a considerable extent. Owing to this there are symptoms of increase of cerebral pressure, which in many cases can scarcely be distinguished from those of the cerebellar abscess. As opposed to the cases with an overplus of symptoms, a not inconsiderable number of cerebellar abscesses run an entirely latent course. According to my statistics, the cases exhibiting no symptoms amount to g'q per cent., so