결핵성 인두후농양 1례

Retropharyngeal abscess still occurs despite the advent of antibiotics and may result in significant morbidity or mortality. It divides into “acute” or “chronic” according to clinical course.

Chronic retropharyngeal abscess develops practically always due to tuberculosis of cervical vertebrae. But tuberculosis abscess in retropharyngeal space is rare. The retropharyngeal tuberculosis abscess accounts for from 1% to 3.4% of all the retropharyngeal abscess. The treatment of retropharyngeal tuberculosis abscess consists of surgical drainage with intraoral approach or anterior cervical approach accompanied by antituberculosis medication.

Recently, the authors experienced the 39 year-old male patient who had been treated for pulmonary tuberculosis. He was admitted with swallowing difficulty for 1 month and protrusion of posterior pharyngeal wall on left side. There was 6 X 4 cm sized, tender, soft neck mass on the left mid jugular area. He was diagnosed as a retropharyngeal tuberculosis abscess. So we treated him with surgical drainage and antituberculous medication effectively. We report it with literature review.