TY - JOUR T1 - An unusual complication of epistaxis: cerebral abscess formation after anterior ethmoidal artery ligation JF - BMJ Case Reports DO - 10.1136/bcr-2015-213389 VL - 2015 SP - bcr2015213389 AU - Karin Murer AU - David Holzmann AU - Jan-Karl Burkhardt AU - Michael Benjamin Soyka Y1 - 2015/12/24 UR - http://casereports.bmj.com/content/2015/bcr-2015-213389.abstract N2 - Epistaxis is a very common emergency in otorhinolaryngology. Anterior ethmoidal artery ligation using an external approach is one of the surgical options in posterior epistaxis. We present, to the best of our knowledge, the first reported case of an intracerebral abscess after epistaxis treatment with ligation of the anterior ethmoidal artery using an endoscopic-assisted external approach in a 56-year-old patient. The patient presented 4 days postoperatively with an orbital cellulitis. A CT was performed and a frontobasal hypodensity was found. An additional MR tomography the next day showed a lesion suspicious for an intracerebral abscess. Despite intravenous antibiotic therapy, the lesion increased and was successfully treated by the neurosurgeons, with abscess resection over a craniotomy and frontobasal repair using a pedicled periosteal flap. Surgeons have to be aware of this rare but possibly lethal severe complication and should consider early imaging studies, especially if a periorbital cellulitis appears. ER -