title: Bilateral peritonsillar abscesses.
abstract: In the discussion about the management of the peritonsillar abscess (PTA) in regard to the pros and cons of tonsillectomy à chaud versus à froid, the risk of obscure contralateral abscesses is often neglected. To the authors' knowledge, there are only a few series of PTA being analyzed for the abscess rate of bilateral PTA. A group of 541 abscess tonsillectomies was retrospectively analyzed for the presence of a bilateral manifestation of peritonsillar abscess. Twenty-one patients (3.88%) had bilateral abscesses. None of these had been detected prior to the operation. Of the 541 patients, 2.22% had postoperative hemorrhages that had to be arrested under general anesthesia. Within the discussion about abscess tonsillectomy versus stab incision followed by interval tonsillectomy (à froid), the rate of almost 4% bilateral abscesses should be taken into consideration as dangerous complications such as mediastinitis could develop from the remaining abscess formation of the contralateral side.
authors.affiliation: Department of Otorhinolaryngology, University of Duisburg-Essen, Hufelandstrasse 55, 45122 Essen, Germany. goetz.lehnerdt@uni-essen.de
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lehnerdt
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Senska
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fischer
authors.forename: K
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Jahnke
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D000039:Peritonsillar Abscess / Q000473:pathology / Q000601:surgery*; D014068:Tonsillectomy