{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,8,4]],"date-time":"2026-08-04T06:27:22Z","timestamp":1785824842389,"version":"3.56.0"},"reference-count":25,"publisher":"Scientific Scholar","content-domain":{"domain":["surgicalneurologyint.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":[],"abstract":"<jats:sec id=\"st1\">\n<jats:title>Background: <\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Every year approximately 19.6 patients\/100,000 per year are admitted to hospitals with spinal epidural abscesses (CSEA), 7.4\/100,000 have vertebral osteomyelitis (VO)\/100,000\/year, while 4.1\/100.000 children\/year have cervical retropharyngeal abscesses (RPA) (i.e., data insufficient for adults).<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"st2\">\n<jats:title>Methods: <\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Here we evaluated 11 individual case studies, 6 multiple patient series, and looked at 9 general review articles focusing on CSEA, and\/or VO, with\/without RPA.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"st3\">\n<jats:title>Results: <\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>Of the 11 case studies involving 15 patients, 14 had cervical spinal epidural abscesses (CSEA: 10 CSEA\/ VO\/RPA, 2 CSEA\/VO, 1 CSEA\/TSEA, 1 CSEA\/ TSEA\/LSEA), 13 had cervical osteomyelitis (VO: 11 VO\/CSEA, 2 VO\/RPA), and 12 had cervical retropharyngeal abscesses (RPA: 10 RPA\/CSEA\/VO, 2 RPA\/VO alone). When patients were treated surgically, they required 12 anterior, and 2 posterior approaches; 1 patient required no surgery. In the 6 larger cervical series involving 355 patients, 4 series involved CSEA (3 CSEA, 1 CSEA\/VO), and 2 seires had cervical VO. Primary surgery was performed in 298 patients, while 57 were initially managed medically; 24 of these latter patients failed non-surgical therapy, and required delayed cervical surgery. Notably, all 17 clinical studies advocated early surgery where clinically appropriate for varying combinations of CSEA and\/or VO with or without RPA. The 8 final articles reviewed all-levels of SEA and or VO, while also providing additional unique information regarding RPA.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>\n<jats:sec id=\"st4\">\n<jats:title>Conclusion: <\/jats:title>\n<jats:p>We analyzed 11 case studies and 6 multiple case series regarding the diagnosis and treatment of combinations of cervical CSEA, and\/or VO with or without RPA. We also reviewed 8 articles on the evaluation\/ management of all-level SEAs and\/or VOs, along with the unique features of RPAs.<\/jats:p>\n<\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.25259\/sni_294_2020","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,20]],"date-time":"2020-06-20T06:10:44Z","timestamp":1592633444000},"page":"160","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.25259\/crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":12,"title":["Diagnosis, and Treatment of Cervical Epidural Abscess and\/or Cervical Vertebral Osteomyelitis with or without Retropharyngeal Abscess; A Review"],"prefix":"10.25259","volume":"11","author":[{"given":"Nancy","family":"Epstein","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"10894","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,6,20]]},"reference":[{"issue":"6","key":"10.25259\/SNI_294_2020\/ref-1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"874","DOI":"10.2106\/00004623-199706000-00011","article-title":"Pyogenic vertebral osteomyelitis","volume":"79","author":"Carragee","year":"1997","journal-title":"J Bone Joint Surg Am"},{"issue":"24","key":"10.25259\/SNI_294_2020\/ref-2","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"E1479","DOI":"10.1097\/BRS.0000000000002747","article-title":"Epidural Abscess: A Propensity Analysis of Surgical Treatment 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