gms | German Medical Science

81st Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

12.05. - 16.05.2010, Wiesbaden

Article

Send article

Necrotizing fasciitis of the neck after total laryngectomy and primary insertion of voice prosthesis: two case reports

Meeting Abstract

Search Medline for

  • corresponding author Ana Danic Hadzibegovic - General Hospital "Dr. Josip Bencevic", Slavonski Brod, Croatia
  • Davorin Danic - General Hospital "Dr. Josip Bencevic", Slavonski Brod, Croatia

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. 81. Jahresversammlung der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Hals-Nasen-Ohren-Heilkunde, Kopf- und Hals-Chirurgie. Wiesbaden, 12.-16.05.2010. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2010. Doc10hnod147

doi: 10.3205/10hnod147, urn:nbn:de:0183-10hnod1478

Published: April 22, 2010

© 2010 Danic Hadzibegovic et al.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/deed.en). You are free: to Share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work, provided the original author and source are credited.

Outline

Text

Necrotizing fasciitis (NF) is an unusual, life threatening, rapidly advancing infection characterized by wide spread fascial and subcutaneous tissue necrosis with gangrene of the skin. It most commonly affects the extremities, abdominal wall and perineum whereas cervical NF is rare. NF of head and neck is often caused by both aerobic and anaerobic microorganisms found in upper aerodigestive tract. Usually, cervical NF originates from odontogenic, tonsillar and pharyngeal infection, and it is very rarely a complication of surgical procedure. Without immediate surgical treatment cervical NF leads to mediastinitis and fatal sepsis. There is only one case of cervical NF after total laryngectomy described in literature. We report two cases of cervical NF after total laryngectomy, selective neck dissection and primary vocal prosthesis insertion. In both cases infection spread to thoracic region and in one of them NF was associated with Lemierre’s syndrome, thrombosis of internal jugular vein. During the infection in both patients vocal prosthesis was inserted and did not influence the healing process.