Proportions and characteristics of patients with brain abscess at Sanglah General Hospital in Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia in 2019-2020

Introduction. A brain abscess is a collection of pus, immune cells, and other materials that are generally caused by bacterial or fungal infection in the brain parenchyma. This disease has a high level of morbidity and mortality, nonetheless, until now there has been no in-depth research on this disease, especially in Bali. Objective. This study aimed to determine the proportion and characteristics of patients with brain abscess at the Sanglah General Hospital, Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia in 2019-2020. Material and methods. This study is an observational study with a cross sectional method. A total of 41 patients with brain abscesses recorded in hospital medical records in 2019-2020 were included in this study. Univariate analysis was performed to obtain the characteristics of patients with brain abscesses. Results. Most of the patients were male (63.4%), aged 20-39 years. The main complaint most often found in patients was decreased consciousness (56.1%), with neurological symptoms in the form of hemiparesis (32.3%). Most of the abscesses were found on the right frontal, right parietal and left parietal with a percentage of 14.06% each. The CT scan results showed a rim contrast enhancement (63.4%), cerebral edema (75.6%), and normal sulcus gyri (51.2%). Up to 50% of patients with a history of surgical procedures underwent a craniotomy. Other disease histories most often found in patients were sinusitis (29.5%), diabetes mellitus (15.3%), and toxoplasmosis (12.5%). Conclusion. There are varying results of the clinical characteristics of patients with brain abscesses, and indicate the natural course of this disease.