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Epiglottitis

{{{Name|Epiglottitis}}}
[[Image:{{{Image}}}|190px|center|]]
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ICD-10 J05
ICD-O: {{{ICDO}}}
ICD-9 464.3, 476.1
OMIM }}}
MedlinePlus }}}
eMedicine }}}
DiseasesDB }}}

Epiglottitis is inflammation of the epiglottis. Due to its place in the airway, swelling of this structure can interfere with breathingand constitutes a medical emergency.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

  • 1 Cause
  • 2 Symptoms
  • 3 Diagnosis
  • 4 Treatment
  • 5 Complications

Cause

It involves bacterialinfectionof the epiglottis, most often caused by Haemophilus influenzae type B, although some cases are attributable to Streptococcus pneumoniae or Streptococcus pyogenes.

Symptoms

Epiglottitis typically affects children, and is associated with fever, difficulty swallowing, drooling and stridor. The early symptoms are insidious but rapidly progressive, and swelling of the throat may lead to cyanosisand asphyxiation. Cases in adults are most typically seen amongst abusers of crack cocaine.

Diagnosis

Diagnosis is confirmed by direct inspection using laryngoscopy. The epiglottis and arytenoidsare cherry-red and swollen.

Treatment

Epiglottitis requires urgent endotracheal intubationto protect the airway. Ideally, this should be performed by an experienced anesthesiologist, with otolaryngologyback-up in case of failed intubation. If intubation fails, tracheostomyis required.

In addition, patients should be given an antibioticdrugsuch as ceftriaxone.

Complications

Some patients may develop pneumonia, lymphadenopathyor septic arthritis.de:Epiglottitis

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/Epiglottitis"



This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
It uses material from the http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epiglottitis Wikipedia article Epiglottitis.

 
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