TITLE:
A Girl with Life Threatening Meningitis Caused by an Infected Dermoid Cyst Derived from an Occult Dermal Sinus
AUTHORS:
Valentina Tono, Sara Bertoletti, Francesca Maltese, Francesco Canonico, Erik Sganzerla, Carlo Giussani, Maria Luisa Melzi, Andrea Biondi
KEYWORDS:
Dermal Sinus, Meningitis, Dermoid Cyst, Spinal Dysraphism
JOURNAL NAME:
Case Reports in Clinical Medicine,
Vol.3 No.8,
August
7,
2014
ABSTRACT: Congenital dermal
sinuses are a rare entity of spinal dysraphism. Most patients have cutaneous
markers of their presence, including nevus or port wine stains, dimple,
hypertrichosis and subcutaneous lipoma. Inclusion tumors, such as dermoid
tumor, are associated to dermal sinus tract; they are congenital, benign and
slow-growing lesions of midline. Their clinical relevance is due to the
possibility of causing infection, spinal abscess, signs of corde or nerve root
compression. Spinal Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) is the diagnostic tool of
choice. We present the case of a child with atypical meningitis, resistant to
large spectrum antibiotic therapy, caused by an infected dermoid cyst,
undiagnosed in the first months of life despite repeated MRI.