Nocardial brain abscess in an immunocompetent patient and review of literature

摘要

Background:Nocardial brain abscesses are associated with significant morbidity and mortality rates.The optimal management remains unclear.Case presentation:We report a case of 49-year-old woman presented with dizziness,progressive headache for 3 days,accompanied with left arm twitched for twice.The patient underwent a right parietal craniotomy for resection of the lesion.Gross total resection of the lesion was achieved.There were no new neurological deficits post-operatively,and no lesions was demonstrated on Gd-enhanced MRI images at six months follow-up.Conclusions:After review of the literature and experience learned from our case,we suggest that craniotomy and surgical resection of the lesions,instead of aspiration,is a safe,efficacious treatment for the patient with nocardial brain abscesses.Long-term chemotherapy and follow-up is mandatory in all cases.