Abscess Formation in Metastatic Brain Tumor with History of Immune Checkpoint Inhibitor: A Case Report

We present the case of a 68-year-old man with brain metastasis from lung cancer and a history of immune checkpoint inhibitor administration, with overlapping abscess within the metastatic lesion. He initially received antibiotic treatment under a diagnosis of brain abscess because of a hyper-intense area on diffusion-weighted imaging inside the gadolinium-enhanced wall. The size of the enhanced lesion did not change much, but the extent of perifocal edema decreased after antibiotic treatment. After 2–4 months, the lesion gradually enlarged, and imaging characteristics changed from single cyst to multiple cysts. Surgical resection was performed and pathological examination revealed the lesion as metastasis from the lung tumor. Smear preparation of the tumor contents detected Gram-positive bacilli, confirming the dual pathology of metastasis and brain abscess. Discussing the pathogenesis, we speculated that therapy with durvalumab (MEDI4736), an anti-PD-L1 antibody, induced immune status modification including immunosuppressive regulation, which might have promoted abscess formation.