Acute and Critical Care

Jung Kwon Kim

1 Article

The Clinical Features of Patients with Deep Neck Infections Who Were Admitted to the Intensive Care Unit in a Single Emergency Center: Jin Joo Kim, Sung Youl Hyun, Jung Kwon Kim, Yong Su Lim, Jong Hwan Shin, Jin Seong Cho, Ji Ho Ryu, Gun Lee; Korean J Crit Care Med. 2008;23(2):96-101.; DOI: https://doi.org/10.4266/kjccm.2008.23.2.96

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BACKGROUND
Deep neck infections are a life-threatening disease that spread to the neck spaces and the mediastinum via neck fascial planes. In spite of using antibiotics, the mortality of deep neck infections is still high. The aim of our study was to analyze the factors related to mortality and morbidity of patients with deep neck infection who were admitted to the intensive care unit.
METHODS
This is a retrospective study of patients with deep neck infections who were admitted to the intensive care unit over a 2 year period between June 2006 and May 2008. The various factors related to mortality and morbidity were analyzed.
RESULTS
Twenty-four patients were included over 2 years. The median age was 58 years. Eighteen patients (75%) were males and six patients were females. Ten patients (41.7%) had underlying diabetes mellitus. The median white blood cell count and C-reactive protein (CRP) were 14,000/mm3 and 24.1 mg/dl, respectively. The most common cause of deep neck infection was of dental origin (62.5%) and the most common complication was mediastinitis (37.5%). The factors related to mortality were underlying diabetes mellitus, pO2, CRP, sequential organ failure assessment (SOFA) score, gas-forming score (GAS), and complications due to mediastinitis.
CONCLUSIONS
It is useful to measure several factors in patients with deep neck infections. The patients with underlying diabetes mellitus, increased CRP, a GAS score of 2, and complications to mediastinitis have a high mortality rate, so active surgical and medical management should be performed.

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Retrospective investigation of anesthetic management and outcome in patients with deep neck infections
Tae Kwane Kim, Hye Jin Yoon, Yuri Ko, Yuna Choi, Ui Jin Park, Jun Rho Yoon
Anesthesia and Pain Medicine.2019; 14(3): 347. CrossRef

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