Surgical treatment of tuberculous cervical adenitis in infancy

The authors point out the disadvantages of medical treatment in cases of complicated primary tuberculous adenitis (cold abscesses, fistulae). They think that these are tributaries of the surgical treatment and recommend the operation called 'functional ganglion draining'. They present statistics of 41 cases, of which 19 were complicated and which were treated with the said technique. They point out the excellent results obtained. They confirm the great frequency with which the subdigastric ganglion is affected (80%), as well as the jugular chain (38%) and the spinal chain (32%). The bilateral form was found in only 5% of the cases. They describe the course followed with regard to the exploration and diagnosis as well as the medical treatment.