Five Cases of Pediatric Deep Neck Abscess

Abstract

Deep neck abscesses are relatively rare in pediatric patients and can lead to critical complications. The characteristics of deep neck abscesses in pediatric patients differ from those in adult patients, and inflammation often spreads through the lymphatic route in children. In this study, we reviewed 5 pediatric cases of cervical abscess at our hospital between January 2017 and December 2018, that required open drainage. No serious complications, such as airway narrowing or mediastinal abscess were encountered. In some cases, imaging examinations revealed abscesses in the draining lymph nodes.

In children, inflammation often spreads through the lymphatic route to form abscesses in the lymph nodes, a feature that differs from adult cases. In our cases, abscess formation was also observed in the posterior cervical space and submandibular space on the CT images. There are relatively few previous reports of severe complications of pediatric deep neck abscesses, and consistent with previous reports, no serious complications, such as mediastinal abscess and airway obstruction, were observed in our cases either. Pediatric cases are easy to control by conservative treatment, but incision and drainage were performed in our cases because of resistance to antimicrobial treatment. The condition resolved without serious complications in all our cases.