What is a brain abscess?
An abscess is a pocket of pus. A brain abscess is a pocket of pus in your brain.
One or more brain abscesses can form when an infection spreads from somewhere else in your body
An abscess puts pressure on your brain
A brain abscess is dangerous and can be fatal
Symptoms include headache, sleepiness, feeling sick to your stomach, and sometimes weakness on one side of your body or seizures
Doctors do a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scan of your head to find an abscess
Treatment includes antibiotics and sometimes surgery to drain the abscess
What causes a brain abscess?
An abscess is caused by an infection from bacteria, fungi, or parasites. The infection usually starts somewhere else and goes to your brain.
Infections can spread from another place in your head, such as your tooth, sinuses, or ear
Infections can travel through your blood from another part of your body
Sometimes infections enter your brain when you have a bad head injury or brain surgery.
This illustration shows a brain abscess (arrows). A brain abscess is a pocket of pus in the brain.
designua/stock.adobe.com
People who have a problem with their immune system such as due to end-stage HIV infection have an increased risk of brain abscess caused by toxoplasmosis or a fungus.
What are the symptoms of a brain abscess?
A brain abscess can cause different symptoms, depending on where it is and how much it swells. Symptoms can include:
Fever and chills, which may start early and then go away
Headache
Feeling sick to your stomach or throwing up
Feeling very sleepy
Feeling weak on one side of your body
Problems thinking
Seizures or coma
How can doctors tell if I have a brain abscess?
Doctors find an abscess with an imaging test, such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or computed tomography (CT) scan. They figure out which type of infection caused the abscess by taking a sample of the pus and trying to grow germs from it in a lab.
How do doctors treat a brain abscess?
Doctors treat a brain abscess using:
Antibiotics for 4 to 8 weeks to get rid of the infection
Steroids (sometimes also called glucocorticoids or corticosteroids) to lower swelling in your brain
Medicines to prevent seizures
Sometimes draining the abscess with a needle
Sometimes doing surgery to remove the whole abscess
If you have a condition that makes your immune system weak, you may need antibiotics for the rest of your life.
