A 9-year-old boy with a nonmalignant forehead tumor - a rare case of pediatric Pott's puffy tumor

Jesper Amstrup; Lasse Wedege Penning; Jonas Kjeldbjerg Hansen; Ninna Brix; Graziella Andersen

doi:10.1186/s12887-023-04117-8

A 9-year-old boy with a nonmalignant forehead tumor - a rare case of pediatric Pott's puffy tumor

BMC Pediatr. 2023 Jun 17;23(1):300. doi: 10.1186/s12887-023-04117-8.

Authors

Jesper Amstrup¹, Lasse Wedege Penning², Jonas Kjeldbjerg Hansen³, Ninna Brix³, Graziella Andersen²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark. jeamstrup@gmail.com.
² Department of Radiology, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.
³ Department of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Aalborg University Hospital, Aalborg, Denmark.

Abstract

Background: Pott's puffy tumor (PPT) is a rare and potentially deadly complication of frontal sinusitis consisting of subperiosteal abscess and osteomyelitis of the frontal bone.

Case presentation: We report the case of a 9-year-old boy who presented with fever and soft tissue swelling of the forehead. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) depicted an abscess in the subcutaneous tissue frontally and an epidural empyema, while a cranial computed tomography (CT) scan revealed bone erosion as a sign of osteomyelitis. The patient was treated accordingly.

Conclusions: This rare condition is essential to keep in mind as it needs a multidisciplinary approach and relevant imaging to start proper treatment and thus decrease the risk of intracranial complications.

Keywords: Case report; Nonmalignant tumor; Pediatric; Pott’s Puffy Tumor; Radiology.

Publication types

Case Reports

MeSH terms

Abscess / diagnostic imaging
Abscess / etiology
Child
Forehead
Frontal Sinusitis* / complications
Humans
Male
Neoplasms* / complications
Pott Puffy Tumor* / complications
Pott Puffy Tumor* / etiology