Intracranial complications from ENT infections

Sinonasal and temporal bone infections may extend to the skull, skull base, meninges, pericerebral spaces, brain parenchyma, dural sinuses, deep cerebral or cortical veins, intracranial arteries and cranial nerves either via contiguous or hematogeneous spread. The site of infection dictates the sites of potential complications: orbital with ethmoid sinusitis, cavernous sinus thrombophlebitis and oculomotor palsies with sphenoid sinusitis, transverse sinus thrombophlebitis with mastoiditis and superior sagittal sinus thrombophlebitis with frontal sinusitis. All may result in brain abscess. Congenital and acquired defects of the skull and meninges, with or without associated meningocele or meningoencephalocele, perilymphatic fistulas, and some anomalies of the inner ear may predispose to the intracranial extension of ENT infections.