Pott’s puffy tumor (PPT) with supraorbital abscess
D. Perform an anterior orbitotomy with abscess drainage in conjunction with endoscopic sinus surgery
The differential diagnosis for a supraorbital mass includes malignant neoplasm, soft-tissue infections, frontal sinus mucocele, and various other lesions such as PPT, which is a rare clinical entity characterized by a subperiosteal abscess associated with osteomyelitis. It typically consists of osteomyelitis of the frontal bone, either directly or through hematologic spread.1
A rapidly growing mass unresponsive to conservative antibiotic therapy raised concern for a malignant neoplasm. However, because of the imaging finding of supraorbital abscess with communicating channels, an infectious process was more likely; therefore, an excisional biopsy would not be indicated (choice A). Antibiotic therapy failed to alleviate the symptoms in this patient. It would not be appropriate to administer intravenous (IV) antibiotics until the cause was better understood (choice B). Also, IV antibiotics alone would not be sufficient for treating this patient. Frontal sinus mucocele with orbital involvement can present similarly, with orbital displacement, proptosis, and diplopia and can be treated with removal of the frontal sinus cystic lining (choice C).2 However, the CT findings of this case did not show space-occupying lesions with eggshell bone erosion, which is characteristic for orbital mucocele.2