[Post-intubation right paratracheal abscess. Apropos of a case]

We report the case of a young woman who had undergone a difficult emergency intubation and rapidly developed a mediastinal collection of pus. Mediastinoscopy, requested for diagnostic purposes, was also therapeutic as it drained the abscess. The patient received a course of antibiotics and was cured without sequelae. Accidents of tracheal intubation are severe, especially when unrecognized. They often include perforation of the oesophagus resulting in mediastinitis or abscess with an estimated 30 to 40% mortality rate, and they constitute a medico-surgical emergency. In the case reported here mediastinoscopy was crucial, but the theoretical value of computerized tomography must be stressed since this method not only detects the lesion but is also used to perform a guided drainage.