Complications of peritonsillar abscess

Table 1 Overview of complications to peritonsillar abscesses (PTA)

Mechanism of propagation and complication	No. of patients	Males^a	Age, median years (range)	Time relation between PTA and complication (time of diagnosis)				Acute tonsillitis prior to PTA^a	Antibiotic treatment prior to complication^a	Mortality^a	Sequelae^a
Mechanism of propagation and complication	No. of patients	Males^a	Age, median years (range)	PTA prior	Same time	PTA after	Unknown	Acute tonsillitis prior to PTA^a	Antibiotic treatment prior to complication^a	Mortality^a	Sequelae^a
Upper airway spread
Airway obstruction	14	62%	17 (0–68)	1	12	0	1	58%	88%	7%	0%
Epiglottitis	15	100%	41 (27–64)	0	5	0	10	80%	80%	0%	–
Neck tissue spread
Para- and retropharyngeal abscess	96	77%^b	62^c (14–75)	2	8	0	86	0%^d	50%	0%	0%
Necrotizing fasciitis	38	76%^e	51 (20–87)	17	6	0	15	22%	89%	21%	46%
Mediastinitis	113	65%^f	52 (15–82)	13	13	0	87	41%	74%	19%	38%
Internal carotid artery lesion	7	57%	15 (3–95)	2	5	0	0	33%	50%	0%	50%
Parotid gland abscess	1	0%	60	0	1	0	0	–	100%	0%	0%
Mastricator space abscess	2	50%	83 (75–90)	2	0	0	0	0%	100%	0%	–
Hematogenous spread
Lemierre´s syndrome	35	52%	21 (0–65)	2	21	3	9	40%	27%	10%	50%
Sepsis	2	50%	10 (0–20)	0	0	2	0	50%	100%	0%	0%
Lung infections	2	100%	38 (14–61)	1	0	1	0	50%	100%	0%	0%
Carditis	3	100%	52 (17–80)	2	0	1	0	50%	50%	67%	–
Brain abscess	1	0%	9	0	1	0	0	100%	0%	0%	100%
Septic arthritis	1	100%	55	0	1	0	0	100%	100%	0%	100%
Immunologic reaction
Reactive arthritis	1	0%	32	1	0	0	0	100%	100%	0%	0%
STSS	1	100%	68	0	1	0	0	0%	0%	0%	0%
Unknown
Kawasakis syndrome	2	100%	7 (7–7)	2	0	0	0	100%	100%	0%	0%
All	334	70%²	41 (0-95)	45	74	7	208	42%	69%	10%	21%

PTA peritonsillar abscess. STSS Streptococcal toxic shock syndrome
^aPercentage of cases with information provided (gender: n = 235; acute tonsillitis prior to PTA: n = 98; antibiotic treatment prior to complication: n = 156; mortality: n = 273; sequelae: n = 87)
^bp < 0.001, binomial probability test
^cn = 5
^dn = 4
^ep = 0.003, binomial probability test
^fp = 0.04, binomial probability test

ISSN: 1476-0711