[Retropharyngeal inflammation presenting as meningitis: an important differential diagnosis in clinical neurology].

We report three patients who presented with occipital headache, neck pain, meningism, fever, and inflammatory findings in laboratory tests. Lumbar puncture for suspected meningitis revealed normal CSF findings in all patients. Magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated inflammation of the deep neck space, leading to the final diagnosis of retropharyngeal abscess.