EPIGLOTTITIS AND CROUP IN AIRWAY OBSTRUCTION IN CHILDREN
1998; Elsevier BV; Volume: 16; Issue: 4 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1016/s0889-8537(05)70065-1
ISSN1558-4259
Autores Tópico(s)Infectious Diseases and Tuberculosis
ResumoAcute respiratory distress in children is a terrifying experience for the child and the parents. It also poses a tremendous challenge to nurses and physicians who must diagnose and treat the child's illness. Acute inflammation of the upper airway is of greater importance in infants and small children because the airway is smaller, predisposing young children to a relatively greater narrowing than is produced by the same degree of inflammation in an older child. This article discusses epiglottitis and croup, which are two clinical entities that can present with significant airway obstruction due to acute inflammation of the upper airway. Epiglottitis or supraglottitis is a rare, life-threatening disease that involves the structures superior to the vocal cords (i.e., arytenoids, aryepiglottic folds, epiglottis). Even though the incidence in children has decreased significantly since the introduction of the Haemophilus influenzae type B vaccine, it remains one of the major critical illnesses affecting the pediatric population. Croup is a generic name that includes a heterogenous group of relatively acute illnesses (mostly infectious). Usually it affects, to some degree, the larynx, trachea, and bronchi, hence the name laryngotracheobronchitis.
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