Sinogenic intracranial complications: is adalimumab a culprit?

We present two 11-year-old girls with chronic recurrent multifocal osteomyelitis, treated with adalimumab. Both developed severe intracranial complications to sinusitis. Patient 1 had been treated with adalimumab for 15 months when she developed acute sinusitis complicated by an orbital abscess, forehead swelling, a subdural empyema and osteomyelitis of the frontal bone. She was treated with a rhinosurgical and neurosurgical approach with intravenous antibiotics.Patient 2 had been in adalimumab treatment for 10 weeks. Adalimumab was discontinued 8 weeks prior to developing subdural empyema and subcortical abscesses in combination with sinusitis. She was treated with endoscopic sinus surgery and intravenous antibiotics. Both patients had developed psoriasis and episodes of infection during treatment. They were non-septic and had low fever on presentation. None of the patients suffered any long-term neurological sequelae. The immunosuppressive treatment with adalimumab is considered to be the cause of the sinogenic intracranial complications in our cases. © BMJ Publishing Group Ltd (unless otherwise stated in the text of the article) 2018. All rights reserved. No commercial use is permitted unless otherwise expressly granted.