Pneumococcal Meningitis Associated With Retroperitoneal Abscess
A Rare Complication of Lumbar Puncture
- Jerome F. Levine, MD;
- Emile M. Hiesiger, MD;
- Margaret A. Whelan, MD;
- Alan A. Pollock, MD;
- Michael S. Simberkoff, MD;
- James J. Rahal Jr, MD
- From the Department of Infectious Disease, New York (Manhattan) Veterans Administration Medical Center (Drs Levine, Pollock, Simberkoff, and Rahal); and the Departments of Neurology (Dr Hiesiger) and Radiology (Dr Whelan), New York University School of Medicine, New York. Dr Levine is now with Hackensack (NJ) Medical Center.
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Excerpt
THE ASSOCIATION of bacterial meningitis with a retroperitoneal abscess is uncommon. There have been only four cases in the literature of meningitis caused by dissemination of a psoas abscess.1,2 Recently, we observed a patient with pneumococcal meningitis in whom a pneumococcal psoas abscess subsequently developed as an iatrogenic complication of a lumbar puncture.
Report of a Case A 50-year-old man was admitted to the New York (Manhattan) Veterans Administration Medical Center for evaluation of fever, confusion, and lower back pain.
The patient had been in good health until two weeks before admission, when he noted the onset of lower back pain without fever, abdominal pain, leg weakness, or incontinence of bowel or bladder. During the week before hospitalization, the patient visited two outpatient medical clinics for evaluation. He claimed that spinal roentgenograms were obtained and interpreted as normal. Bed rest and analgesics were prescribed both times. Two days before
Footnotes
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Reprint requests to the New York Veterans Administration Medical Center, 408 First Ave, New York, NY 10010 (Dr Rahal).
