Lemierres syndrome: a life-threatening sore throat

Description 

A 25-year-old previously healthy Japanese man presented to our emergency department with a 1-day history of dyspnoea, following a sore throat in the previous week. Physical examination revealed acute exudative tonsillitis and right-sided diminished breath sounds. The laboratory analysis revealed a significantly elevated C reactive protein level of 30.67 mg/dL. A CT scan with contrast revealed a thrombophlebitis of the left internal jugular vein, a right-sided empyema and bilateral septic pulmonary emboli (figure 1).

Figure 1

Axial CT scan with contrast of the neck (left) and the chest (right). A thrombus in the left internal jugular vein (arrow, left), empyema (asterisks) and septic pulmonary emboli (arrow, right) are depicted.

In addition to thoracocentesis, curettage and irrigation of the right-sided thoracic cavity were performed with video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. Gram staining of the purulent pleural fluid showed Gram-negative rods with abundant polymorphonuclear leukocytes....

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