[Ultrasonography for peritonsillar abscess diagnosis: benefits and drawbacks]

In 2 clinical cases the neck soft tissues ultrasound in the young and old patients allowed to solve the main diagnostic tasks: to determine the presence of peritonsillar abscess cavities, their sizes and localization; to exclude the fit of large vessels near to abscesses and the presence of abnormal vessels; to conduct differential diagnosis of abscesses from a tumor and allergic angioedema. Ultrasound with external access did not require any special preparation, was easily tolerated by the patient, was informative, but it was difficult to determine the puncture place. Intraoral ultrasound was more difficult to conduct, because the transducer should be small in size to enter the patient's mouth. If the patient had a pronounced trismus, intraoral ultrasound couldn't be done. On the one hand in a case of children use the standard transducer cannot fit in the mouth as well and may be damaged by teeth. But on the other hand, the abscess puncture site can be more easily determined by intraoral examination. Compared to multi-slice computed tomography with contrast, the ultrasound method is cheaper, more accessible, faster, more informative and there is no radiation exposure associated with this method.

Ultrasound of the peritonsillar region by external and intraoral methods is informative for detecting peritonsillar abscess, especially in difficult diagnostic cases.