Fulminant bacterial meningitis complicating sphenoid sinusitis.

Intracranial complications of sinusitis, including meningitis, are uncommon in childhood. Among pediatric patients admitted for treatment of sinusitis, 3.2% were found to have an intracranial complication. Conversely, among pediatric patients with intracranial infections, only 2.4% had infections secondary to sinusitis. Infection of the sphenoid sinuses, however, merits particular concern. These thin-walled sinuses develop late in childhood, and their deep location places them adjacent to the dura mater and other critical structures. Here we describe 2 previously healthy adolescent boys who developed fulminant bacterial meningitis as a complication of sphenoid sinusitis.