Prevotella brain abscess in a healthy young patient with a patent foramen ovale.

Brain abscesses are frequently caused by poly-microbial conditions. Comparatively, brain abscesses caused by Prevotella species are very rare. Right-to-left cardiac shunting due to a patent foramen ovale may predispose patients to infection. We report an isolated Prevotella brain abscess that occurred in a healthy, young, male patient with a patent foramen ovale. The patient did not have a clinically obvious odontogenic source of infection, and no other distant extracranial infectious sources were observed. The patient was successfully treated with stereotactic aspiration and antibiotics.