Intracranial complications following infection of the sphenoid sinus are not uncommon. In a review of the experiences with disease of the nasal sinuses at the Cook County Hospital between 1911 and 1920, inclusive, Yerger1 found that although the sphenoid sinus is less frequently diseased than the other sinuses, it nevertheless is more often responsible for intracranial complications. Thus, of a total of 393 cases of sinusitis studied there were 11, or 2.8 per cent, in which the pathologic condition involved the sphenoid sinus. Of these 11 cases, intracranial complications developed in 7, or 63 per cent.
That such complications are frequently not suspected is evident from the fact that of the 7 cases in which such complications developed the diagnosis was made at autopsy in 5, disease of the sphenoid sinus was suspected before symptoms of meningitis set in in only 1 and the diagnosis was made at operation in