What is "cerebritis"

Cerebritis \Cer`e*bri"tis\, n. [NL., fr. E. cerebrum + -itis.] (Med.) Inflammation of the cerebrum.

n. (context medicine English) inflammation of the cerebrum

Cerebritis is an infection of the brain that normally leads to the formation of an abscess within the brain itself. It is the inflammation of the cerebrum, a structure within the brain, which performs a number of important functions, including most of the things which people associate with being human, such as memory and speech. It is also defined as a purulent nonencapsulated parenchymal infection of brain which is characterized by nonspecific features on CT (ill-defined low density area with peripheral enhancement) and cannot reliably be distinguished from neoplasms.

Cerebritis usually occurs as a result of an underlying condition, which causes the inflammation of the brain tissue. It is commonly found in patients with lupus. Lupus cerebritis may occur in adults and children. The duration of the central nervous system involvement may vary from a few minutes, as in classic migraine or a transient ischemic attack, to years, as in dementia. Resulting neurological deficits may be transient or permanent, occasionally resulting in death.