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Abscess

Dr Yuranga Weerakkody and Dr Frank Gaillard et al.

An abscess is a focal confined collection of suppurative inflammatory material and can be thought of as having three components 1:

  1. central core comprised of necrotic inflammatory cells and local tissue
  2. peripheral halo of viable neutrophils
  3. surrounded by a 'capsule' with dilated blood vessels and proliferation of fibroblasts

Pathology

Causes

Abscesses can be caused by :

  • bacteria
  • parasites
  • fungi
Location

Essentially any tissue in the body can play host to abscesses. Please refer to individual articles for further details.

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