Pott’s puffy abscess: Moniker change from historical misnomer of Pott’s puffy tumor
Frontal bone infection with osteomyelitis and subperiosteal abscess causing local forehead swelling has historically carried the moniker of Pott’s puffy “tumor”, in reference to the original description by Percivall Pott in 1760. In the modern era, the “tumor” component of the term causes confusion,...
| Main Authors: | , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Elsevier
2020-06-01
|
| Series: | Interdisciplinary Neurosurgery |
| Online Access: | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214751919303275 |
| _version_ | 1818576707489103872 |
|---|---|
| author | David H. Jho Meilin Young Chen Xu Bertram Richter |
| author_facet | David H. Jho Meilin Young Chen Xu Bertram Richter |
| author_sort | David H. Jho |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Frontal bone infection with osteomyelitis and subperiosteal abscess causing local forehead swelling has historically carried the moniker of Pott’s puffy “tumor”, in reference to the original description by Percivall Pott in 1760. In the modern era, the “tumor” component of the term causes confusion, since semantic evolution of this term in common parlance is mistakenly interpreted as neoplastic pathology rather than generalized tissue swelling of infectious etiology. The pathology is subperiosteal abscess with frontal sinusitis, which can typically be treated with small focal surgeries involving abscess drainage, osteomyelitis debridement, and endoscopic endonasal frontal sinus surgery, along with course of antibiotics as infectious pathology. Although if the posterior wall of the frontal sinus is significantly compromised, more extensive frontal sinus obliteration surgery may be required. We present a case report of Pott's puffy tumor with frontal sinus and epidural abscess, diagnosed with CT and MRI, treated with frontal burr hole and endoscopic endonasal surgeries plus antibiotics, and review the literature with proposal of simple terminology change to an updated description as Pott’s puffy “abscess”. Keywords: Pott’s puffy tumor, Frontal bone infection, Epidural abscess |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T06:18:18Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-aa7b350faf4148c38c44013af4965fdc |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2214-7519 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T06:18:18Z |
| publishDate | 2020-06-01 |
| publisher | Elsevier |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Interdisciplinary Neurosurgery |
| spelling | doaj.art-aa7b350faf4148c38c44013af4965fdc2022-12-21T22:41:12ZengElsevierInterdisciplinary Neurosurgery2214-75192020-06-0120Pott’s puffy abscess: Moniker change from historical misnomer of Pott’s puffy tumorDavid H. Jho0Meilin Young1Chen Xu2Bertram Richter3Department of Neurosurgery, Allegheny Health Network, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, USA; Corresponding author at: Allegheny General Hospital, 320 East North Avenue, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, USA.Department of Pulmonary Critical Care Medicine, Allegheny Health Network, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, USADepartment of Neurosurgery, Allegheny Health Network, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, USADepartment of Neurosurgery, Allegheny Health Network, Pittsburgh, PA 15212, USAFrontal bone infection with osteomyelitis and subperiosteal abscess causing local forehead swelling has historically carried the moniker of Pott’s puffy “tumor”, in reference to the original description by Percivall Pott in 1760. In the modern era, the “tumor” component of the term causes confusion, since semantic evolution of this term in common parlance is mistakenly interpreted as neoplastic pathology rather than generalized tissue swelling of infectious etiology. The pathology is subperiosteal abscess with frontal sinusitis, which can typically be treated with small focal surgeries involving abscess drainage, osteomyelitis debridement, and endoscopic endonasal frontal sinus surgery, along with course of antibiotics as infectious pathology. Although if the posterior wall of the frontal sinus is significantly compromised, more extensive frontal sinus obliteration surgery may be required. We present a case report of Pott's puffy tumor with frontal sinus and epidural abscess, diagnosed with CT and MRI, treated with frontal burr hole and endoscopic endonasal surgeries plus antibiotics, and review the literature with proposal of simple terminology change to an updated description as Pott’s puffy “abscess”. Keywords: Pott’s puffy tumor, Frontal bone infection, Epidural abscesshttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214751919303275 |
| spellingShingle | David H. Jho Meilin Young Chen Xu Bertram Richter Pott’s puffy abscess: Moniker change from historical misnomer of Pott’s puffy tumor Interdisciplinary Neurosurgery |
| title | Pott’s puffy abscess: Moniker change from historical misnomer of Pott’s puffy tumor |
| title_full | Pott’s puffy abscess: Moniker change from historical misnomer of Pott’s puffy tumor |
| title_fullStr | Pott’s puffy abscess: Moniker change from historical misnomer of Pott’s puffy tumor |
| title_full_unstemmed | Pott’s puffy abscess: Moniker change from historical misnomer of Pott’s puffy tumor |
| title_short | Pott’s puffy abscess: Moniker change from historical misnomer of Pott’s puffy tumor |
| title_sort | pott s puffy abscess moniker change from historical misnomer of pott s puffy tumor |
| url | http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214751919303275 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT davidhjho pottspuffyabscessmonikerchangefromhistoricalmisnomerofpottspuffytumor AT meilinyoung pottspuffyabscessmonikerchangefromhistoricalmisnomerofpottspuffytumor AT chenxu pottspuffyabscessmonikerchangefromhistoricalmisnomerofpottspuffytumor AT bertramrichter pottspuffyabscessmonikerchangefromhistoricalmisnomerofpottspuffytumor |