Sinusitis with contiguous abscess involvement of the clivus and petrous apices - Case report

A wide spectrum of diseases may involve the clivus, such as primary neoplas ms, metastatic disease, and inflammatory, vascular, hematopoietic, and infe ctious processes. Of these, osteomyelitis of the skull base and/or clival-p etrous abscess are unusual, but may occur as a result of contiguous spread from the paranasal sinuses, namely, the posterior ethmoid and sphenoid, as was demonstrated by this patient. In this case report we discuss the pertin ent anatomy, imaging studies, pathogenesis, and medical and surgical manage ment of this case.