Clinical features
With orocervicofacial actinomycosis, patients may present with
- fever
- chronic painless or painful soft tissue swelling over the angle of the jaw and the adjacent tissues become greatly indurated. The skin develops a typical bluish discolouration. Sinuses then appear and these discharge thin pus. Pain may or may not be a feature, but there is usually marked trismus.
- regional lymphadenopathy - usually absent until later stages.
A woody consistency of the lesions may lead to a misdiagnosis of malignancy
Bacteria may invade the local structures such as bone and muscle causing bone infection (periostitis and osteomyelitis), chewing difficulties and trismus (muscles of mastications) (1).
Reference:
Related pages
Create an account to add page annotations
Annotations allow you to add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation. E.g. a website or number. This information will always show when you visit this page.