Absceso cervical profundo con riesgo de obstrucción de vía aérea en un lactante. Descripción de un caso

Introduction and objective: Retropharyngeal abscess are uncommon. They usually occur in children younger than 5 years and most of them are polymicrobial infections. Method: We report a case of a six-month-old boy with an abscess of 7 cm3 that required incision and transoral surgical drainage. We used the CARE checklist when writing our report [8]. Parents of patient gave their consent to use clinical data for publication. Discussion: Computed tomography of the neck is the diagnostic technique of choice. It has to be done when deep neck infections are suspected. Conservative treatment with intravenous antibiotics would be the first choice. Prompt surgical drainage would be needed if symptoms worsen or in large abscesses with risk of airway obstruction. Conclusions: Deep neck abscesses are uncommon in infants at present, but potentially serious. An early diagnosis and treatment are important to avoid severe complications.