Cerebral abscess secondary to embolization of arteriovenous malformation: A case report and literature review

Background: Infectious complications of the central nervous system secondary to endovascular procedures have rarely been reported. However, the number of complications has grown exponentially owing to the popularization of these procedures. The success rate of these procedures varies with the pathology, the patient, and surgical performance. Although brain abscesses have been extensively reported, their presence after endovascular procedures has not been described in detail in the literature. We present a case of brain abscess induced by embolization of an arteriovenous malformation (AVM), discuss the main indications, techniques, procedural complications, and review the associated literature.

Case description: A 13-year-old boy presented to us with a history of hemorrhagic stroke secondary to a cerebral AVM rupture. He underwent incomplete AVM resection (2014), with subsequent incomplete embolization (2017), and permanence of the endovenous catheter as a procedural complication. Physical examination revealed purulent exudate through the cervical surgical wound. We performed cervicotomy to remove the catheter but had no success in removing the intracranial material segment. The patient was subsequently diagnosed with a brain abscess (2018) and treated with antibiotics. Our team performed resection of the residual AVM, abscess, and the catheter-associated with the region.

Conclusion: The patient showed significant clinical improvement after surgical resection of the malformation. No residual lesions were observed in the imaging examinations. Further, we reviewed the literature to find other cases of similar complications and their association with the endovascular procedure. We did not find complications in patients younger than the one presented in this case. Factors such as incomplete embolisation increase the risk of unfavourable outcomes.