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Neck Infections in Children

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Pediatric ENT Infections

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Abstract

Although it is rare for a pus-forming lesion to develop in the neck in a child, when it does, the situation may become grave and ensuring patency of the airway may become an emergency situation. Infection can track along the spaces in the neck and spread into adjacent structures, e.g. the mediastinum and the vertebral spine. Since the neck is a series of complicated anatomical structures and symptoms in paediatric cases may be less obvious, accurate diagnosis and treatment depends on the alertness of clinicians to the danger. Paediatric cases may begin with, for example, upper respiratory symptoms, eating or drinking less, cervical discomfort, cervical lymphadenopathy or trismus. These symptoms may quickly worsen to the point where the airway gets blocked, a thrombosis forms in the jugular vein, there is inflammation of the mediastinum or sepsis develops. The key steps in the clinical management of cervical infections are administration of the correct antibiotic, surgical drainage and circumventing complications [1]. Cervical infections encompasses pus-forming cervical adenitis, abscess formation (peritonsillar, retropharyngeal or parapharyngeal), pus-forming thyroiditis, infection of an embryological remnant (cervical cyst), in addition to complications of operative procedures, radiation exposure, injury, and human or animal bites. How these manifest clinically and how they should be treated form the material for this chapter.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, University of Kyrenia, School of Medicine, Kyrenia, Turkish Republic on Northern Cyprus (TRNC), Cyprus

    Emine Ünal Evren & Hakan Evren

  2. Department of Otolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, College of Medicine, and Cincinnati Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, University of Cincinnati, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Charles M. Myer III

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  1. Emine Ünal Evren
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  2. Hakan Evren
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Eskişehir Osmangazi University, Eskişehir, Turkey

    Cemal Cingi

  2. Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Kocaeli University, Kocaeli, Turkey

    Emin Sami Arısoy

  3. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Faculty of Medicine, Kırıkkale University, Kırıkkale, Turkey

    Nuray Bayar Muluk

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Evren, E.Ü., Evren, H., Myer, C.M. (2022). Neck Infections in Children. In: Cingi, C., Arısoy, E.S., Bayar Muluk, N. (eds) Pediatric ENT Infections. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80691-0_53

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-80691-0_53

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-80690-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-80691-0

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