Table of Contents
- Overview
- Symptoms
- Treatment
- Prevention
- Images
Breathing difficulty Difficulty swallowing Drooling - High fever
- High-pitched sound when inhaling (
stridor ) - Muscles between the ribs pull in when breathing (
intercostal retractions ) - Severe throat pain
Signs and tests
The health care provider will perform a physical exam and look inside the throat. The doctor or nurse may gently rub the back of the throat with a cotton swab, so that a sample of tissue can be more closely examined. This is called a
Other tests may include:
-
Complete blood count (CBC) -
CT scan of the neck -
X-ray of the neck
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Retropharyngeal abscess Treatment
Review Date: 11/23/2010
Reviewed By: Linda J. Vorvick, MD, Medical Director MEDEX Northwest Division of
Physician Assistant Studies, University of Washington, School of
Medicine; and Seth Schwartz, MD, MPH, Otolaryngologist, Virginia
Mason Medical Center, Seattle, Washington. Also reviewed by David
Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M., Inc.
A.D.A.M., Inc. is accredited by URAC, also known as the American Accreditation HealthCare Commission (www.urac.org)
