Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2019 Dec 11;11(12):e6351.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.6351.

Pott's Puffy Tumor: A Potentially Deadly Complication of Sinusitis

Matthew J Joo  1 , Kurt E Schapira  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

Pott's Puffy Tumor: A Potentially Deadly Complication of Sinusitis

Matthew J Joo et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

Pott's puffy tumor (PPT) is a rare but potentially deadly complication of bacterial sinusitis that consists of subperiosteal abscess and osteomyelitis of the frontal bone. It is best diagnosed with computerized tomography (CT) with intravenous contrast or magnetic resonance imaging and treated with early broad-spectrum antibiotics and surgical intervention. We describe a case of PPT in a 7-year-old patient and present the CT images.

Keywords: osteomyelitis; pott puffy tumor; sinusitis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Axial CT scan with arrow indicating erosion of the left frontal bone and opacification of the left frontal sinus
Figure 2
Figure 2. Coronal CT scan with arrow indicating opacification of the left frontal sinus
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Clinical practice guideline (update): adult sinusitis. Rosenfeld RM, Piccirillo JF, Chandrasekhar SS, et al. Otolaryngol Head Neck Surg. 2015;152:1–39. - PubMed
    1. Antibiotics for acute maxillary sinusitis. Ahovuo‐Saloranta A, Rautakorpi UM, Borisenko OV, Liira H, Williams JW Jr, Mäkelä M. Cochrane Database Syst Rev. 2008;2:0. - PubMed
    1. Acute community-acquired sinusitis. Gwaltney JM Jr. Clin Infect Dis. 1996;23:1209–1225. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Pott’s puffy tumor. Forgie SE, Marrie TJ. Am J Med. 2008;121:1041–1042. - PubMed
    1. Pott’s puffy tumor. Keehn B, Jorgensen SA, Towbin AJ, Towbin R. https://appliedradiology.com/communities/Pediatric-Imaging/pott-s-puffy-... Appl Radiol. 2018;47:30–31.

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources