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Use of FDG-PET to detect a chronic odontogenic infection as a possible source of the brain abscess

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Abstract

This study describes the use of 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) to detect a chronic odontogenic infection as the possible origin of a brain abscess (BA). A 74-year-old man with esophageal carcinoma was referred to our department to determine the origin of a BA in his oral cavity. He had no acute odontogenic infections. The BA was drained, and bacteria of the Staphylococcus milleri group were detected. Whole body FDG-PET revealed that the only sites of definite uptake of FDG were the esophageal carcinoma and the left upper maxillary region (SUVmax: 4.5). These findings suggested that the BA may have originated from a chronic periodontal infection. Six teeth with progressive chronic periodontal disease were extracted to remove the possible source of BA. These findings excluded the possibility of direct spread of bacteria from the odontogenic infectious lesion to the intracranial cavity. After extraction, there was no relapse of BA.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank the doctors in Division of Neurosurgery, Hokkaido University Hospital, for allowing us to see the patient.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Oral Pathobiological Science, Department of Oral Diagnosis and Medicine, Hokkaido University Graduate School of Dental Medicine, North 13, West 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, 060-8586, Japan

    Jun Sato, Takeshi Kuroshima, Mayumi Wada, Akira Satoh & Yoshimasa Kitagawa

  2. Department of Nuclear Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, Hokkaido University, North 15, West 7, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido, 060-8638, Japan

    Shiro Watanabe, Shozo Okamoto, Tohru Shiga & Nagara Tamaki

Authors
  1. Jun Sato
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  2. Takeshi Kuroshima
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  3. Mayumi Wada
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  4. Akira Satoh
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  5. Shiro Watanabe
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  6. Shozo Okamoto
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  7. Tohru Shiga
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  8. Nagara Tamaki
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  9. Yoshimasa Kitagawa
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jun Sato.

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Funding

This study was partially supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (2013-2015: 25463065).

Conflict of interest

None of the authors of this manuscript has any financial relationship with any organization, or any conflict of interest, regarding this study.

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Sato, J., Kuroshima, T., Wada, M. et al. Use of FDG-PET to detect a chronic odontogenic infection as a possible source of the brain abscess. Odontology 104, 239–243 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10266-015-0218-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10266-015-0218-1

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