Peritonsillar Abscess in Northern Nigeria: A 7 Years Review

Background: The aim of this study was to describe the clinico-epidemiologic profile of peritonsillar abscess (PA) seen in our center in northern Nigeria.
Methods: This was a to retrospectively review of all patients with PA managed in our hospital over a 7-year period. Case notes were reviewed and information retrieved included biodata and clinical information were entered into an SPSS statistical software version 20.0 and analysed descriptively and result presented in table and figures.
Results: A total of 25 patients were seen during the study period age ranged from 2-52 years with a mean age of 25.96 years; 14.1 (SD 2.8). Male to female ratio of ≈ 1.1:1.0. Right side was affected in 60%. The period of presentation of patients with PA varied between 4-12 days with a mean duration of 6.5 days. The presenting complaints in these patients varied from sore throat alone in 4 (16%), fever and sore throat in 17 (68%), others 16%. The duration of hospital stay varied from between 1 to 8 days with mean of 4.2 days; 3.32 days (SD 1.1). All the patients had incision and drainage with no recurrence of symptoms.
Conclusion: PA is an Ear, Nose and Throat emergency that is commoner amongst the young adult males and the modality of treatment is still incision and drainage in our setting.

Keywords
emergency; peritonsillar abscess; incision; drainage; antibiotic; sore throat