Peritonsillar abscess in children. Is incision and drainage an effective management?

Debate continues concerning proper management of peritonsillar abscess (PA). We studied 189 children (mean age, 9 years) admitted in our department during the last 7 years with the diagnosis of PA. Management consisted of incision and drainage (performed in 92.5% of the children without general anaesthesia) and antibiotic therapy intravenously. There was resolution without complications in the overwhelming majority of the cases. After the initial episode, we further followed up 101 children. The recurrence rate was 15.8%. Forty-seven percent of the recurrences occurred 1 month after the children had been discharged. Probably some of these second PA should be considered as persistent and not as recurrent. Therefore, we propose that after their discharge, the children must take oral antibiotics (resistant to beta-lactamase) for more than 10 days. Cultures were taken from 58 cases. The predominant bacterial isolates were Streptococcus spp. (55%), anaerobes spp. (12%) and Staphylococcus aureus (6%). To our knowledge, this is the first survey that addresses exclusively a pediatric population and suggests that incision and drainage without general anaesthesia is an applicable and effective management in children with PA. Moreover, we believe that peritonsillar abscess is no longer a strong indication for tonsillectomy due to the relatively low rate of recurrence. We recommend close follow-up, mainly for the first months after the initial episode.