European Journal of Case Reports in Internal Medicine (Oct 2021)

Late-Term Complications of COVID-19: Retropharyngeal Infection and Myocarditis in a 26-Year-Old Patient

  • Mohammad Yousef,
  • Basel Abdelazeem,
  • Atefeh Kalantary,
  • Rebecca Pratiti

DOI
https://doi.org/10.12890/2021_002759

Abstract

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Deep neck space infection and viral myocarditis related to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) have both been described in the medical literature. However, there are only three reported cases of retropharyngeal infection as a presenting pathology in the setting of COVID-19. A 26-year-old woman presented to the emergency room with fever and neck swelling and pain 1 month after COVID-19 infection. A computed tomography scan of the neck demonstrated tonsillitis with retropharyngeal infection. She was also found to have heart failure with an ejection fraction (EF) of <20% due to acute myocarditis. Her infection resolved and the EF improved to 40% prior to discharge. Our case is the first to describe retropharyngeal infection as a late complication in an adult with a history of COVID-19 several weeks previously. It also presented a clinical challenge in terms of tailoring goal-directed medical therapy to manage severe left ventricular dysfunction caused by myocarditis.

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