Abstract
Three cases of retropharyngeal abscess which caused respitrory obstruction are reported. Two of them 3-and 9-month-old infants had acute upper respiratory tract infection and the other case, a 38-year-old male, had extension of tuberculous osteomyelitis of the fourth cervical vertebra.
It is important that the external cervical incision and drainage of the abscesses is accomplished under general endotracheal anesthesia in order to afford the surgeon an opportunity to achieve adequate drainage and at the same time to protect the tracheobronchial tree from aspiration of pus in case of inadvertent rupture of the abscess.
Nasotracheal intubation is better than tracheotomy as a means of airway maintenance in cases with retropharyngeal abscess in infants who often present the problem of difficulty in decannulation.
