[Diagnosis and therapy of a retropharyngeal abscess].

A 53-year-old female patient developed a phlegmon of the floor of the mouth after external extraction of 38 acutely inflammed teeth. The phlegmon tracked retropharyngeally and settled on the opposite side. It was difficult to estimate the amount of tissue area affected by the abscessed phlegmon because of severe trismus. The fact that the inflammation had basically tracked retropharyngeally and inferiorly was ascertained via a lateral radiograph of the neck which showed that the lower part of the prevertebral soft-part shadow was considerably wider than normal. The life-threatening infection healed after the abscess was incised and drained externally. The abscess was approached medial of the vascular band.