Abstract
We examined 17 patients with a deep neck abscess who were treated at our hospital over the past 15 years and also review the 430 reported cases in Japan over the past 10 years. There were about twice as many male cases as female cases and the average age was 44 years old. The most frequent cause of this disease was an upper respiratory tract inflammation which included acute tonsillitis (61%), a dental infection (18%), a foreign substance (7%), and the result of continuous medical treatment (7%). Regarding the cause of inflammation, 43% were caused by bacteria (Streptococcus genus) while 27% were caused by anaerobic bacteria. Surgical drainage was require 3d in 84% or 375 of the reported cases. Regarding complications, the most common complication was diabetes in 16%, which was about 3 times the normal rate of diabetes in Japanese (5.5%). In addition, the patients associated with diabetes showed an average hospital stay of 47 days which was substantially longer than that for such patients with out diabetes (36 days). Moreover, such patients with diabetes also demonstrated a 13% mortality rate which was also about 3 times the normal rate of all other cases (4%). Based on the above findings we strongly recommend that surgical drainage should be performed for all such cases. In addition, it is important to administer appropriate antibiotic treatment for anaerobic bacteria. Finally, special caution is required when such patients are also associated with siabetes.
