[Retropharyngeal abscess for foreign body complicated by mediastinitis and pericarditis]

The incidence of retropharyngeal abscess is decreasing since the arrival on semisynthetic penicillins. We report one case of retropharyngeal abscess, after ingestion of a foreign body, in an adult patient, complicated with infective mediastinitis, pleural effusion and pericarditis. The spreading of the infection is able to be explained either by continuity or through the fascial sheets. The usefulness of the CT scan for diagnosis as well for the stretching of the condition is brought out. We underline the anterolateral cervicotomy as the best procedure for surgical drainage of these complications.