Case Report

Tubercular Retropharyngeal Abscess in Association with Aberrant Retropharyngeal Internal Carotid Arteries - A Rare Entity: Imaging Diagnosis and a Word of Caution

10.5152/tao.2018.3684

  • Shuchi Bhatt
  • Deepawali Malla
  • Deepti Mukhija
  • Vipin Arora
  • Anupama Tandon
  • Sonal Sharma

Received Date: 23.07.2018 Accepted Date: 31.10.2018 Turk Arch Otorhinolaryngol 2019;57(1):50-53

Retropharyngeal (RP) abscess is rarely encountered in adults. Still rare is an abscess of tubercular etiology especially without involvement of the underlying cervical spine. We present a case of an immunocompetent woman with a tubercular RP abscess diagnosed on contrast-enhanced cervical computed tomography and confirmed on cytology. Another interesting feature was an aberrant RP course of the internal carotid arteries in this patient. This case report stresses the importance of imaging in establishing an unexpected diagnosis of an RP abscess, suggesting its likely cause, and also in demonstrating the aberration in regional vascular anatomy, and warns the clinician of life-threatening hemorrhagic complication in the event of any diagnostic or therapeutic intervention.

Keywords: Retropharyngeal abscess, tuberculosis, carotid artery, diagnostic imaging