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Case: Ludwig's Angina

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0:01

This was a patient who had a palpable

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mass in the floor of the mouth that was

0:06

associated with tenderness and fever.

0:09

And again, we'll start up at the top here.

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We've got a little bit of the, uh, posterior

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pharyngeal structures, a little bit of inflammatory

0:17

disease going on in the maxillary antra.

0:21

The parotid glands look pretty good.

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The palatine tonsils are—

0:25

Uh, look pretty good.

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There are some, uh, small areas of narrowing of the

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airway at the level of the palatine tonsils, and you see

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some irregularity to the palatine tonsillar tissue.

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However, more importantly, we see this

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low-density collection, which has a rim

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around it, and it is in proximity to the

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sublingual gland in the floor of the mouth.

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This was an inflammatory process that

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was drained and had purulent material.

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Differential diagnosis here includes cystic

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lesions within the tongue, which include things

1:00

like epidermoids or thyroglossal duct cysts.

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If this was a little bit closer to the midline,

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we might suggest a thyroglossal duct cyst.

1:08

That, as you can see on the sagittal

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scan, usually occurs a little bit

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more towards the foramen cecum region

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and follows a pathway towards the hyoid bone.

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So this is a little bit too far anterior.

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Here you can see the mylohyoid musculature, which marks

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the floor of the mouth, and we have that collection.

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This ended up being, as I said, a contained

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purulent material and was a Ludwig's

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angina abscess in the floor of the mouth.

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Now, most of the time, Ludwig's angina will

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extend through into the submandibular space.

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In this case, we've got a little bit of enlargement

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of the left submandibular gland compared to the

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right, but not much in the way of inflammation.

1:54

We do see also in this individual that there is some

1:57

swelling of the epiglottis and the pre-epiglottic

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fat, which you can also see in this area here.

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This is the epiglottis, the base of the tongue,

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and some edema in the pre-epiglottic fat.

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All this, uh, representing, uh, manifestations of

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an inflammatory process in the floor of the mouth.

Report

Faculty

David M Yousem, MD, MBA

Professor of Radiology, Vice Chairman and Associate Dean

Johns Hopkins University

Tags

Oral Cavity/Oropharynx

Neuroradiology

Neck soft tissues

Infectious

Head and Neck

Emergency

CT

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