Idiopathic Parotid Gland Abscess in a Pediatric Patient

Parotid abscesses are sequelae of acute parotitis that are rare in pediatric patients. Common inciting causes of parotid abscesses include infection, inflammatory conditions, and ductal obstruction. This case presents a parotid abscess found in an otherwise healthy four-year-old girl. Further evalua...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inCurēus (Palo Alto, CA) Vol. 16; no. 4; p. e58464
Main Authors Hall, Ariel L, Matich, Erica, Kulla, Artenisa, Jaara, Mahmoud, De Marco, Dominic, Black, Nicole P
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States Cureus Inc 17.04.2024
Cureus
Subjects
Abscesses
Antibiotics
Bacterial infections
Case reports
Cysts
Erythema
Exocrine glands
Fever
Neck
Otolaryngology
Pediatrics
Radiology
Staphylococcus infections
Ultrasonic imaging
pediatric otolaryngology
head and neck radiology
spontaneous abscess
intra-parotid
pediatric
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Summary:Parotid abscesses are sequelae of acute parotitis that are rare in pediatric patients. Common inciting causes of parotid abscesses include infection, inflammatory conditions, and ductal obstruction. This case presents a parotid abscess found in an otherwise healthy four-year-old girl. Further evaluation revealed no evidence of infection, no anatomical ductal obstruction, and no evidence of autoimmune conditions that could have caused the abscess. Nonetheless, the patient was treated with an incision and drainage procedure and antibiotic therapy with full recovery. Development of a parotid abscess with no identifiable cause is exceedingly rare with limited documented instances. From this case, idiopathic parotid abscesses may be considered as a diagnosis of exclusion after ruling out common causes, though management still follows the standard of care.
ISSN:2168-8184
2168-8184
DOI:10.7759/cureus.58464