Surgical intervention of Lemierre’s syndrome: a case report and review of the literature

Abstract

Abstract Background Lemierre’s syndrome is a fatal and rare disease that is typically characterized by oropharyngeal infection and internal jugular vein thrombosis. Timely institution of appropriate antibiotics is the standard treatment. Case presentation The authors report a case of Lemierre’s syndrome. A 67-year-old male patient of Han ethnicity in China suffered from a large inflammatory neck mass involving left internal jugular vein thrombosis diagnosed as Lemierre’s syndrome and finally cured by surgical treatment. In addition, a literature review was carried out through PubMed using the terms “Lemierre’s syndrome/disease and review, meta-analysis or retrospective study” and “Lemierre’s syndrome/disease and internal jugular vein”. This search yielded six articles that recorded surgical methods such as drainage, craniotomy, tooth extraction, and ligation of the occluded vein to give clinicians more ideas about the treatment of the Lemierre’s syndrome. Conclusion This is the first review to summarize the conditions under which surgical treatment are conducted. Additionally, this is the first report of such a large inflammatory neck mass that was completely cured by surgical resection and internal jugular vein ligation. The authors also offer several conclusions regarding surgical intervention in Lemierre’s syndrome for the first time.

Keywords

• Case report
• Head and neck infection
• Internal jugular vein thrombosis
• Lemierre’s syndrome
• Surgical treatment