Pott's puffy tumour: still not an eradicated entity

Pott's puffy tumour is an infrequent entity characterised by one or more su bperiosteal abscesses associated with frontal bone osteomyelitis. Although cases in patients of all ages have been reported, teenagers are the most fr equently affected. Early diagnosis and aggressive treatment are essential b ecause of the high risk of severe neurological complications, such as epidu ral abscess, subdural empyema, and secondary septic thrombosis of the dural sinuses. This paper describes the case of a patient with a subperiosteal a bscess resulting from sinusitis, with orbital and intracranial extension, a nd subsequent neurological complications. Despite modern methods of diagnos is and treatment, 13 new cases have been published in the last 5 years; in at least 3 (23%) of these cases there were serious neurological complicatio ns. Upper respiratory infections and sinusitis are leading causes of visits to the emergency department in the paediatric age group; however, no risk factors for poor outcome have so far been identified in any of these patien ts.