Abstract
Three cases of children with retropharyngeal absess, mediastinitis, and retropharyngeal emphysema are reported.
Case 1, a one year and seven months old girl, stuck a toothbrush into her left tonsil. She developed a big absess and emphysema in the retropharyngeal space and mediastinitis in the following 10 days.
Case 2, a 2-year and 2-month-old girl, also stuck a toothbrush into her right tonsil and developed an emphysema in the retropharyngeal space and the mediastinum.
Case 3, a 1-year and 6-month-old girl, stuck a piece of toy into her posterior wall of the oropharynx and showed retropharyngeal absess.
We often observe that small children fall with something sharp-pointed (a pen, a pensil, chopsticks, a toy, etc.) in their mouth and injure the oropharyngeal region. Some times such an accident could be followed by the deep neck absess, emphysema, and mediastinitis. The clinical significance of this kind of trauma, often called “pencil injury, ” is emphasized.
