title: Medically treated deep neck abscess presenting with occipital headache and meningism.
abstract: We report a 45-year-old man who presented with fever, acute occipital headache, and neck stiffness. He denied immunocompromised state such as diabetes, cancer or AIDS. Lumbar puncture showed normal cerebrospinal fluid findings in spite of laboratory parameters indicating inflammatory reaction. Magnetic resonance imaging of neck demonstrated wide spread enhancing mass of the deep neck space, leading to the final diagnosis of deep neck abscess. A long course of appropriate antibiotic administration finally resolved the inflammation and resulted in a good clinical outcome without surgical drainage. We postulated that deep neck abscess is an important differential diagnosis in a patient with meningism and medical treatment may be available for immunocompetent deep neck abscess.
authors.affiliation: Department of Neurology, Myongji Hospital, Kwandong University College of Medicine, 697-24, HwajungDong DukyangGu Goyang, GyeongGi, South Korea. neurodasan@paran.com
authors.forename: Bon D
authors.initials: BD
authors.lastname: Ku
authors.forename: Key Chung
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Sung Sang
authors.initials: SS
authors.lastname: Yoon
mesh_terms: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D006261:Headache / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D007121:Immunocompetence; D008279:Magnetic Resonance Imaging; D008297:Male; D008581:Meningitis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000209:etiology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D018482:Muscle, Skeletal / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D009333:Neck / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D019547:Neck Pain / Q000209:etiology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D010614:Pharynx / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000382:microbiology / Q000473:pathology; D017703:Retropharyngeal Abscess / Q000150:complications* / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000473:pathology*; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents