Description
There is a cavity some 3.0 cm across, lined by yellow exudate, lying in the right temporal lobe. In
the deeper part of the cortex above this, there is an irregularly softened area which is rather
poorly defined. This may be another abscess early in the stage of its evolution. The gyri are
flattened and the lateral ventricle compressed, indicating increase in intracranial pressure.
History
This woman, who was diabetic and hypertensive, developed a squamous cell carcinoma
in the right auditory canal. This was treated but recurred. She developed a middle ear infection,
intracranial infection, and bronchopneumonia. At autopsy, tumour was found in the right middle
fossa but not into the brain; sections of the abscess wall showed no tumour infiltration. The
abscess, then, is to be regarded as a complication of infection occurring in the middle ear.