Case Report
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2024. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jan 26, 2024; 12(3): 616-622
Published online Jan 26, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i3.616
Brain abscess from oral microbiota approached by metagenomic next-generation sequencing: A case report and review of literature
Xue-Min Zhu, Chun-Xia Dong, Lei Xie, Hao-Xin Liu, Huai-Qiang Hu
Xue-Min Zhu, Lei Xie, Hao-Xin Liu, School of Clinical Medicine, Weifang Medical University, Weifang 261053, Shandong Province, China
Chun-Xia Dong, Huai-Qiang Hu, Department of Neurology, the 960th Hospital of People′s Liberation Army, Jinan 250031, Shandong Province, China
Co-first authors: Xue-Min Zhu and Chun-Xia Dong.
Author contributions: Zhu XM and Dong CX analyzed and interpreted patient data and wrote the manuscript; Xie L and Liu HX interpreted the data and reread the manuscript to ensure it was intellectually sound; Hu HQ revised the manuscript for content, including content writing; Zhu XM and Dong CX contributed equally to this work as co-first authors; All authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Informed consent statement: Informed written consent was obtained from the patient for publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest to disclose.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Huai-Qiang Hu, MD, Doctor, Department of Neurology, the 960th Hospital of People′s Liberation Army, No. 25 Normal Road, Tianqiao District, Jinan 250031, Shandong Province, China. huhuaiqiang@126.com
Received: October 24, 2023
Peer-review started: October 24, 2023
First decision: November 28, 2023
Revised: December 16, 2023
Accepted: January 2, 2024
Article in press: January 2, 2024
Published online: January 26, 2024
Abstract
BACKGROUND

Brain abscess is a serious and potentially fatal disease caused primarily by microbial infection. Although progress has been made in the diagnosis and treatment of brain abscesses, the diagnostic timeliness of pathogens needs to be improved.

CASE SUMMARY

We report the case of a 54-year-old male with a brain abscess caused by oral bacteria. The patient recovered well after receiving a combination of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS)-assisted guided medication and surgery.

CONCLUSION

Therefore, mNGS may be widely applied to identify the pathogenic microorganisms of brain abscesses and guide precision medicine.

Keywords: Brain abscess, Metagenomic next-generation sequencing, Periodontitis, Oral bacteria, Precision medicine, Case report

Core Tip: Brain abscesses are mixed infections, and there is difficulty in detecting all pathogens on routine bacterial cultures. We report the case of a 54-year-old male with a brain abscess caused by oral bacteria. The patient recovered well after receiving a combination of metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS)-assisted guided medication and surgery. mNGS may be used for the rapid diagnosis of pathogenic microorganisms and may play an important role in precision medicine.