Brain Abscess: A Comparison of Surgical Outcomes between Conventional Burr Hole Aspiration and Endoscope-Assisted Evacuation

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: Brain abscess is a major health problem with a significant morbidity and mortality rate. The objective of this study was to compare the surgical efficacy between endoscope-assisted evacuations of brain abscess with a single burr hole aspiration procedure in a tertiary health care center. METHODS: This single center non-randomized clinical study was conducted in our Department of Neurosurgery during the period of July 2020 to December 2021. Patients under 30 years of age of both genders presented with brain abscess were enrolled in this study. Patients were treated with two different techniques and divided into 2 groups: conventional burr hole aspiration group and endoscope-assisted evacuation group. RESULTS: Thirty patients were enrolled for this study. The mean age was 13.0 ± 6.3 years in burr hole group and is 13.1 ± 6.4 years in endoscope-assisted group. This study showed ≥75.0% evacuation of brain abscess at 1st post-operative day in 13 (92.9%) patients in endoscope-assisted group and 5 (33.3%) patients in burr hole group. This study showed mortality rate of 6.7% in both the groups. Mean residual volume at 30th post-operative day was 0.75 ml in endoscope-assisted group and 1.75 ml in burr hole aspiration group. No patients treated with required endoscope-assisted evacuation required a repeated surgery, whereas 5 patients (33.3%) of patients treated with conventional burr hole required it. CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that endoscope-assisted procedure has better rate of abscess evacuation, less chance of residual and repeated surgeries than conventional burr hole.