Lemierre's syndrome in children: high-resolution CT and color Doppler sonography patterns

Lemierre's syndrome is an anaerobic sepsis occurring after oropharyngeal infection in healthy teenagers and young adults. We report two cases of adolescent girls suffering from Lemierre's syndrome studied with cervical color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS), cervicothoracic helical CT, and high-resolution CT (HRCT) scanning. In both patients, HRCT allowed a good depiction of multiple cavitated pulmonary nodules of various sizes suggestive of this entity and was able to detect small or peripheral nodules. CDUS helped to pinpoint the extent of thromboses of the internal jugular vein demonstrated by CT. CDUS and HRCT should be performed as early as possible to confirm and treat this life-threatening condition.