Clinical Outcomes of Transcervical and Transoral Approaches in Parapharyngeal Abscesses

Objective: The aim of this study was to identify the microorganisms cultured from abscesses in patients who underwent drainage with transoral and transcervical approaches and to compare the demographic data, anaesthesia duration, and length of hospital stay of patients using both techniques.Material and Methods: We included 96 patients who underwent surgery for parapharyngeal abscesses at the Dicle University, Faculty of Medicine, Ear, Nose, and Throat and Head and Neck Surgery Clinic between 2015 and 2023. Drainage was performed using a transoral approach in 48 patients and using a transcervical approach in 48 patients. We compared both groups based on gender, age, comorbidities, bacteriology, length of hospital stay, and duration of anaesthesia.Results: Upon evaluating the culture results for all patients in both groups, we found that no growth was detected in 50% of the cultures, whereas growth was detected in the other 50%. The average duration of anaesthesia in the transcervical group was 85 min, whereas in the transoral group, it was 52 min, with the duration of anaesthesia in the transoral group being significantly shorter than in the transcervical group. The average length of hospital stay in the transcervical group was 10 days, whereas in the transoral group, it was 8 days, indicating a significantly shorter hospital stay in the transoral group.Conclusion: In our study, we found that patients undergoing transoral drainage had less morbidity, shorter anaesthesia duration and length of hospital stays.