DESPITE modern antiobiotic therapy, brain abscess, unlike many other bacterial diseases, has remained a treacherous, life-threatening condition. In recent series, the mortality has remained from 25% to 50% in spite of improvements in technical operative skills, the range of available and effective antimicrobial drugs, and agents to lessen cerebral edema.1-6 In the present study, we have reviewed the experiences of the Neurosurgical Service at the Massachusetts General Hospital with 30 consecutive patients with brain abscesses not older than 17 who were seen in the period 1946 through 1965.
Occurrence
In contrast to the experience reported at other medical centers, there has been no tendency for the number of brain abscesses to diminish at this hospital in the period covered by this study despite improved agents for treating bacterial infections elsewhere in the body.2 Fifteen, or one half of the cases, were seen in the first decade of the