Consequential damages
Since a brain abscess is a very invasive disease of the brain, 5-10% of patients die despite the best possible treatment. In particular, the increase in pressure in the skull can lead to life-threatening constrictions of the midbrain or the brain stem – both are parts of the brain that control vital processes. If the disease is survived alive, as is the case with the majority of those affected, half of the patients recover completely.
The duration of the healing process can vary individually. The other half suffers permanent damage from the brain abscess. This can manifest itself as a persistent symptomatology, such as permanent hemiparesis (hemiplegia), or as failures in other regions of the brain where the abscess was settled.
The increased intracranial pressure, which causes the diagnostically important congestion papilla (description, see “Symptoms”), can affect the optic nerve to such an extent that so-called visual field failures occur. These are visual disorders in which the image that can be captured by the eye is reduced in size. The diagnosis of a visual field restriction is difficult, because the patient usually does not notice anything – he does not see any dark or black areas in his field of vision, there are simply no stimuli transmitted to the brain.
Another consequence of a brain abscess, which affects about a quarter of all patients, is epileptic seizures. The scar that is left by the healing process causes the brain to make misalignments, which can cause the patient to suffer from epilepsy.
