Background:

Deep neck abscesses can cause life-threatening complications. They are diagnosed by physical examination, and contrasted tomography as the gold standard. There are no studies about the association of Moore’s sign with infections of the retropharyngeal space.

Objective:

To determine the usefulness of Moore’s sign in the diagnosis of deep retropharyngeal abscess.

Method:

Observational, analytical, cross-sectional, study of patients with deep neck abscess, from May 1, 2019, to August 30, 2021, with report of Moore’s sign.

Results:

87 patients were included, 49 (56.3%) males (p = 0.45). Of those who developed complications, 77.8% had a negative Moore’s sign (p = 0.001). Of those admitted to the ICU, 72% had a negative Moore’s sign (p = 0.001). The sensitivity of the absence of the sign with retropharyngeal involvement was 95.4%, and the specificity was 86.3%. By logistic regression, it was found that those with retropharyngeal involvement are 467 times more likely to present a negative sign (p < 0.05).

Conclusions:

The presence of abscess in the retropharynx is associated with complications and a worse prognosis. The evaluation of Moore’s sign can be a useful tool to suspect compromise of this space.

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