Sudden rupture of an acute retropharyngeal abscess\ud in children: A grave lesson

摘要

Retropharyngeal abscess (RPA) in children is becoming an uncommon entity in the era\udof antibiotics. Majority of the patients presented with neck swelling and fever while very few of\udthem manifested any kind of airway compromise symptoms. Nevertheless, RPA can potentially\udbe life threatening as the possible complications such as airway obstruction and sudden rupture\udof the abscess may occur if not treated promptly. There was no reported mortality in recent literatures.\udWe reported an unfortunate boy who died from sudden rupture of the RPA.