Clinical features of peritonsillar abscess in children in a multidisciplinary inpatient department

Abstract

Despite the significant progress in diagnostics and treatment of patients with paratonsillar abscess (PTA), today there is a number of issues of etiopathogenesis of paratonsillar abscess in children. All these factors necessitate the search for adequate criteria of differential diagnostics of the bacterial process of the pharynx, timely prescription of antibacterial drugs, as well as a clear algorithm for surgical treatment of paratonsillar abscess in children. The objective of this study is to describe the clinical and etiological profile of pediatric patients with PTA based on the results of their examination and treatment at Children’s Municipal Multidisciplinary Clinical Center for High Medical Technologies named after K. A. Rauhfus, Saint Petersburg. The duration of prospective follow-up of patients with PTA was 5 years. The authors have analyzed such clinical data as fever, dysphagia, voice change, masticatory spasm. Besides, they assessed the gender and age characteristics of the progress of paratonsillar abscess. The data on the newly diagnosed and recurrent PTA, as well as the presence of concomitant and associated diseases were taken into account. All patients with PTA underwent the incision and drainage of the purulent cavity, followed by antibiotic therapy. The analysis results were statistically processed using the R program (Version 3.5.3). The results are presented in the tables.