Adult supraglottitis: a life-threatening disease and potential airway emergency

Description 

An 87-year-old woman was brought by ambulance to the emergency department (ED) with fever and dyspnoea. There was audible stridor, and the patient was noted to have a large left-sided submandibular swelling. She was in respiratory distress with a respiratory rate of 30. She was administered 100% oxygen. The on-call anaesthetics and ear, nose and throat (ENT) team were called emergently on arrival of the patient due to concern regarding possible impending airway compromise. A portable anteroposterior chest X-ray was performed on the patient on arrival to the ED as the cause of her dyspnoea was initially unclear. This showed marked upper airway narrowing (detail from the chest X-ray is depicted in figure 1). Only a venous blood gas was taken from the patient prior to intubation which showed acidosis with a pH of 7.31 and hypercarbia of 7.62 kilopascals.

Figure 1

Anteriorposterior radiograph...

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