Acute epiglottis- how to treat?
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Hello, my friend is 34 years old. He is suffering from acute epiglottis. His presentation in epiglottitis includes acute occurrence of high fever, severe sore throat and difficulty in swallowing with the sitting up and leaning forward position in order to enhance airflow. There is usually drooling because of difficulty and pain on swallowing. How to treat this?
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@sumana Patients with signs of an advancing upper airway obstruction, consistent with an acute epiglottitis, should be treated as a medical and an airway emergency. In the presence of respiratory distress, diagnostic procedures and radiography are not indicated, and securing the airway should be prioritized. Tracheal intubation of a patient with epiglottitis must be regarded as a potentially difficult procedure. It should be done in strict monitored conditions, i.e. in the operating room, while maintaining spontaneous ventilation. The readiness of a team capable of performing an immediate tracheotomy should be verified. The patient should be transferred to the operating room under the supervision of an experienced anesthesiologist and surgeon.
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