In 1926, Dandy1 reviewed the literature and collected twenty-six cases of acute epidural abscess. One other case has been reported since then by Smitt.2 Prior to Dandy's paper, two other cases were reported by Mixter3 and Spiller and Wright,4 which he did not include in his report. These cases are mentioned because their reports are easily available and because their cases are somewhat similar to our own. None of these patients was under 15 years of age.
In 1926, Woltman and Adson5 reviewed the literature and collected twenty-nine cases of abscess of the spinal cord, and reported one case of their own. Since then Bennett and Keegan6 have reported another case. Four of these patients were under 10 years of age.
Clinically, the two conditions are quite similar, both presenting the signs and symptoms of an acute infection together with neurologic findings varying from