Acute laryngitis in ferocious children

Health Times reporter Wang Zhenya Chen Linhui

Acute laryngitis in children is menacing and often makes parents scratch their hearts.

Professor Shang Yunxiao, director of the Department of Pediatric Respiratory Medicine of Shengjing Hospital affiliated to China Medical University, suggested that acute laryngitis in children generally has an acute onset and progresses rapidly, and must be sent to the hospital in time, if not treated in time, there may be serious consequences, and even life-threatening.

Ferocious laryngitis

72 hours of trepidation

"At 7:20 a.m., my babies only had a slight cough, like the symptoms of a common cold, and they didn't expect to be sent to the hospital emergency department around 3 o'clock in the second half of the night, and the doctor told us that if they came later, my two children would have to be treated with a trachea, and the doctor's words scared the child's mother to cry on the spot." Li Xiao, the father of a 4-year-old twin in Fuzhou, still has palpitations when he remembers the night his child had acute laryngitis.

From a slight cough in the morning to about 5 p.m. that day, Li Xiao recalled that the situation of the two children in the family was not serious, although a little coughing, they were still crying and crying for newly bought toys.

After the evening, "because the two children have drunk cough medicine during the day, the sound of Dabao coughing in the first half of the night is also less, and the mother of the child will sleep with the baby at about 9 o'clock at night." Li Xiao said, "Around 12 o'clock, the babies have a little fever, the cough sound is not the same as during the day, and the cough medicine does not seem to work." ”

Around 2 a.m., the children began to gasp a little, the fever has not receded, the fingernails of the two children are a little purple, and Li Xiao is urgently sent to the hospital emergency department.

On the way to the hospital, the two children were reluctant to talk or drink water.

"The child is acute laryngitis, grasp the atomization first!" After arriving at the hospital, the doctor urgently gave the child a nebulization treatment.

Shang Yunxiao introduced that acute laryngitis is an acute inflammation of the respiratory tract caused by a virus, which is one of the common causes of acute laryngeal obstruction in children. Seizures usually occur at night and are prone to recurrence, most commonly in children aged six months to three years. Children's laryngeal nerves are sensitive, spasms will occur after being stimulated, coupled with cough function is not strong, it is not easy to discharge secretions in the throat trachea, it is easy to cause symptoms of dyspnea, if not treated in time, the disease will further develop, there is cyanosis or pallor around the mouth and nose, fingers and toes are also cyanosis at the same time.

"The doctor came to the ward almost every hour to check on the baby's condition, and at 5 a.m. the two babies were in a poor mental state and looked irritable due to lack of oxygen." Li Xiao said that during the baby's 2 days in the hospital emergency room, he and his wife could only anxiously pace back and forth outside the clinic, feeling that the time was very long.

Talking about the 72 hours of the child's hospitalization, Li Xiao was very afraid.

Race against time

Removing laryngeal obstruction is key

Winter and spring are the high incidence of laryngitis in children.

On January 26 this year, Liu Hua brought his 5-year-old grandson to the hospital for emergency treatment, also because of acute laryngitis. "At that time, my grandson's lips and nails were purple, the mouth was pale, and because he didn't understand it before, he still blamed himself very much when he thought about it, and this disease needed to race against time."

Liu Xiuqin, director of the Department of Pediatrics of the East Branch of Qingdao Municipal Hospital in Shandong Province, explained that infants and young children have narrow laryngeal cavity, soft laryngeal cartilage, and it is easy for the mucous membrane to swell after infection and inflammation, resulting in laryngeal obstruction. Once the airway is blocked, it will be difficult to breathe, and even suffocate. Most children develop fever, hoarseness, barking cough, and stridor within 12 to 48 hours of infection.

In children, the larynx is narrow, and once inflamed, a large number of inflammatory factors can cause rapid edema of the larynx. If the disease is not controlled in time after the disease, severe cases can lead to laryngeal obstruction and life-threatening. Liu Xiuqin told the Health Times reporter that parents should not treat "mild and dangerous" pediatric acute laryngitis as a common cold, missing the best treatment time for children.

Because acute laryngitis in children is very easy to cause laryngeal obstruction, Shang Yunxiao said that relieving laryngeal obstruction is the key to first aid.

"When the doctor treated the child with hormone drugs, we were very worried at first." Li Xiao admitted that looking at the unfamiliar drug names on the medical list and the popular science content about hormone drugs on the Internet, his heart mentioned the throat eye, and the family was very tormented that night. He is both worried that the child will be over-treated and afraid of missing the best time for treatment.

Zhu Chunmei, chief physician of the Department of Respiratory Medicine of the Capital Pediatric Research Institute, told reporters that it is important to use glucocorticoid drugs to reduce inflammation and reduce laryngeal edema. With glucocorticoid therapy by nebulization or oral administration, children are often able to quickly eliminate laryngeal obstruction.

Glucocorticoids are mainly inhaled budesonide suspensions, oral methylprednisolone tablets, or prednisone tablets. Hormones such as dexamethasone or intravenous doses of methylprednisolone may also be given to children with severe laryngeal obstruction.

"But the family does not have to talk about hormone discoloration, and blindly refuses to use hormones." Ji Lianmei, founder of the Q pharmacist, told the Health Times reporter that the short-term use of hormones in small doses is conducive to rapid control of the disease and will not cause adverse effects on children.

Identify laryngitis

Coughing sounds like a puppy barking

Pediatric acute laryngitis is common in infants and young children aged 6 months to 3 years, and such children often cannot clearly express the symptoms, so that parents think that it is a common cold.

Ji Lianmei told reporters that the most typical symptom of acute laryngitis in children is an "empty" cough, like a puppy barking, and a throat sound can be heard. In addition, children will also have fever, irritability, refusal to eat, bruises and other situations, the child has this situation, parents must not be careless, even at night, but also to send the child to the hospital in time, do not wait until the next day to go to the hospital.

Shang Yunxiao reminded parents that parents with laryngitis should pay attention to daily care. You can let the baby rest more, try to lie flat or semi-lying, keep the airway unobstructed; keep the environment quiet and air circulation; eat lightly, drink more water, do not eat or drink irritating foods; let the baby use less throat and avoid crying. Detect abnormalities and deal with them in a timely manner.

The deputy chief physician of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine of Beijing Electric Power Hospital came to ask for water to tell the Health Times reporter that due to the narrow laryngeal cavity of children, soft laryngeal cartilage, loose submucosal tissue of the larynx, rich in blood vessels and lymphoid tissue, when the upper respiratory tract infection, it can cause inflammatory edema of the laryngeal mucosa and submucosa, resulting in narrowing of the glottis. In addition to changes in glottis inflammation, there are laryngeal spasms, so it is very easy to cause laryngeal obstruction. To prevent laryngitis, infants and young children should avoid long-term yelling, and drink more water in winter and spring.

"The child has recovered in the past two days!" With this experience, Li Xiao wants more parents to know, don't treat laryngitis as a common cold!