HEMORRHAGE FROM PHARYNGEAL AND PERITONSILLAR ABSCESSES: REPORT OF CASES, RESUME OF THE LITERATURE AND DISCUSSION OF LIGATION OF THE CAROTID ARTERY

Abstract

When one for the first time encounters a severe, perhaps fatal, hemorrhage in connection with an abscess in the throat the first reaction is that of surprise or shock, as the occurrence is unforeseen and wholly unexpected. To one who has successfully treated a large number of patients with retropharyngeal and peritonsillar abscesses over a period of years without untoward results, it is a matter of deep concern to be faced with an alarming hemorrhage or a fatality. As a result one turns to the literature for information on the subject, as textbooks in the main make very little reference to this grave complication, and one is rather surprised to discover that the apparently rare complication is really not so infrequent and that the topic has been freely written about, discussed and investigated many times. No doubt every member of this society has at some time or other encountered such