A Clinical Study of 64 Cases of Acute Epiglottitis

概要

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Acute epiglottitis is a relatively common inflammation of the throat that may cause acute upper airway obstruction. We retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics of 64 consecutive patients with acute epiglottitis who were treated in our department from April 2005 through March 2011. The patients consisted of 46 men and 18 women, 20-83 years of age with an average of 53.8 years. More than 90% of patients complained of pharyngeal pain and painful swallowing. There was no correlation between the severity of laryngeal edema and oropharyngeal finding. Severe laryngeal edema was associated with high white blood cell (WBC) counts in the peripheral blood. Patients who underwent tracheostomy showed a higher WBC count and CRP level than those who did not. For predicting the indication of trachostomy and/or severe laryngeal edema, the cutoff values of the WBC count and CRP level were found to be approximately 19000/μl and 14 mg/dl, respectively. These results indicate the importance of laryngeal examination for the diagnosis of acute epiglottitis. When laryngeal examination is infeasible, the WBC count and CRP level could be a rough yardstick to avoid overlooking acute epiglottitis.