A nine month old child with retropharyngeal abscess secondary to mastoid abscess presenting as torticollis: a case report

We describe the unusual case of a 9-month-old Caucasian girl with a retropharyngeal abscess secondary to a mastoid abscess who presented with torticollis. The retropharyngeal abscess was caused by pus from the mastoid abscess tracking down under the petrous part of the temporal bone to reach the retropharyngeal space via the fossa of Rosenmüller. We believe that this is the first time that this route of infection has been reported. The patient was treated successfully with 7 days of intravenous ceftriaxone and flucloxacillin followed by oral co-amoxiclav for 7 days, followed by physiotherapy.