Vol.101 No.2 contentsPRACTICA OTO-RHINO-LARYNGOLOGICA
Vol. 101 No. 2 February 2008
Clinical Study of 50 Cases of Acute Epiglottitis
Tomohisa Umiyama, Keiko Nishiya and Keiichirou Okuno
(Ebara Hospital)
This study was investigated the epidemiologic features of epiglottitis and considered the risk factors contributing to the need for airway management. We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of all patients with a diagnosis of epiglottitis who had been discharged from Ebara Hospital. The 11 years period between May 1995 and July 2005 was chosen for this review. Age, gender, chief complaint, appearance of symptoms at consultation, laboratory features, and the presence or absence of airway management were reviewed. There were four patients that required airway management (8％). Tracheostomy was performed in all four patients. There were no deaths.
Four patients who underwent tracheostomy had been seen by a physician within the previos 24 hours. White blood cell cout was greater than 14,000 (mean, 12,174). In all four cases, highly swollon epiglottises were observed by direct laryngoscopy with dyspnea. It was difficult to predict patients that would require airway management. More data must be accumulated for statical analysis to clarify risk factors for airway management.
Key words :acute epiglottitis, tracheotomy, airway management