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80th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery

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

20.05. - 24.05.2009, Rostock

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Progressive emphysema after tonsillectomy

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German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. 80th Annual Meeting of the German Society of Oto-Rhino-Laryngology, Head and Neck Surgery. Rostock, 20.-24.05.2009. Düsseldorf: German Medical Science GMS Publishing House; 2009. Doc09hno060

doi: 10.3205/09hno060, urn:nbn:de:0183-09hno0605

Published: July 22, 2009

© 2009 Scholz 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.

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Introduction: It is the case of a 35-year-old patient presented developing a acute postoperative emphysema of soft tissues of the neck and the mediastinum after tonsillectomy.

Method: The patient was under a regular inpatient stay in a routine tonsillectomy in dissection technique performed. Postoperative exceptionally strong in swallowing occurred, and, consequently, a emphysema of soft tissues of the neck and the mediastinum. In the course of conservative treatment, there was a complete regression of the emphysema.

Conclusion: This rare complication should be noted in the implementation of the tonsillectomy and the patient education should be respected. In particular a subtle preparation is need to respect.