title: Deep Neck infections of Odontogenic Origin and Their Clinical Significance. A Retrospective Study from Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cellulitis remains a very serious disease even today. Mortality, which varied between 10-40%, has been reduced owing to the standard securing of airway patency and use of an appropriate surgical treatment approach.
  
  
  METHODS
  A total of 195 patients were hospitalised for cellulitis at the University Hospital in Hradec Králové during 2007-2011. The following parameters were evaluated: age, gender, dependence of incidence of the disease on the season of the year, frequency of attacks of the particular areas and their clinical characteristics, aetiology of the inflammation, types of patient complaints, prevalence of current systemic diseases, results of microbiological and selected laboratory analyses, socio-economic status of the patients, and duration of patient stay at the hospital. Statistical analysis was performed by using Pearson's correlation coefficient, the statistical significance level was p < 0.05.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age of the patients was 39.8 years. The group of 195 patients included 108 (55%) males and 87 (45%) females. The mean time between the first symptoms of the disease and admission to the Department was 5 days. From among the 195 patients, 116 (59.5%) were working persons, 79 (40.5%) were non-working (children, students, unemployed persons, women on maternity leave, retired people). The odontogenic origin of the disease was verified in 173 (88.7%) patients. In total, 65 (33.3%) patients had no coinciding complicating systemic disease, 22 (11.3%) patients had diabetes mellitus. The most frequent symptom of cellulitis was painful swelling, found in 194 (99.5%) patients, followed by jaw contracture, found in 153 (78.5%) patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The results are largely very similar to those of previous studies performed in other countries, except that we found no correlation between the prevalence of cellulitis and the socio-economic status, nor have we confirmed Klebsiella pneumoniae sp. as the cause of cellulitis in patients with diabetes mellitus.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, and University Hospital in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic. helena.dolezalova@fnhk.cz.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Doležalová
authors.affiliation: Department of Computer Systems, University Hospital in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Josef
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zemek
authors.affiliation: Department of Dentistry, Faculty of Medicine, Charles University, and University Hospital in Hradec Králové, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Luboš
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Tuček
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D002481:Cellulitis / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000382:microbiology; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D018153:Czech Republic; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009333:Neck; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D014076:Tooth Diseases / Q000150:complications* / Q000382:microbiology; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: Bacteria; Cellulitis; Odontogenic infection; Oral microflora