Cavernous sinus and jugular thromboses, base of skull osteomyelitis and cranial nerve palsies: catastrophic complications of sphenoid sinusitis

Wen-An Jih; Tej Shukla; Jennifer Gillespie; Paul Robert Chapman

doi:10.1136/bcr-2022-253496

Cavernous sinus and jugular thromboses, base of skull osteomyelitis and cranial nerve palsies: catastrophic complications of sphenoid sinusitis

BMJ Case Rep. 2023 Feb 2;16(2):e253496. doi: 10.1136/bcr-2022-253496.

Authors

Wen-An Jih¹, Tej Shukla², Jennifer Gillespie^{3

4}, Paul Robert Chapman^{2

5}

Affiliations

¹ Infectious Diseases, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia [email protected].
² Infectious Diseases, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia.
³ Medical Imaging, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Herston, Queensland, Australia.
⁴ School of Medicine, The University of Queensland, Saint Lucia, Queensland, Australia.
⁵ Herston Infectious Diseases Institute, Metro North Health, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia.

Abstract

Sphenoid sinusitis is a clinically important entity as it may be associated with catastrophic complications including cavernous sinus thrombosis (CST), cerebral abscess or infarction, meningitis, base of skull osteomyelitis and cranial nerve palsies. We report a case of occult sphenoid sinusitis presenting as Streptococcus intermedius bacteraemia, bilateral jugular vein and CST, cranial nerve palsy and base of skull osteomyelitis.

Keywords: Cranial nerves; Ear, nose and throat/otolaryngology; Haematology (incl blood transfusion); Infectious diseases.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Cavernous Sinus Thrombosis* / complications
Cavernous Sinus Thrombosis* / etiology
Cavernous Sinus*
Cranial Nerve Diseases* / complications
Humans
Osteomyelitis* / complications
Skull Base / diagnostic imaging
Sphenoid Sinus
Sphenoid Sinusitis* / complications
Sphenoid Sinusitis* / diagnostic imaging
Thrombosis* / complications