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№3' 2016
OTORHINOLARYNGOLOGYInternational Medical Journal, Vol. 22., Iss. 3, 2016, P. 77−80.
ULTRASONOGRAPHY IN ASSESSMENT OF EPIGLOTTIC PURULENT LESIONS
Kharkiv Medical Academy of Postgraduate Education, Ukraine
At present the incidence of acute epiglottitis in adults and severity of its complications increase. Besides visualization techniques, objective methods of diagnosis of inflammation stage of epiglottitis are lacking. To improve the effectiveness of early diagnosis of abscess formation at acute epiglottitis in adults on the basis of the clinical course, modern instrumental, laboratory and ultrasound methods were compared. Clinical diagnosis of acute epiglottitis is not difficult, but determining its type, whether it is infiltrative or abscessed, to identify indications for opening the abscess of the epiglottis are problematic. Nowadays a wide range of diagnostic methods is used in the diagnosis of acute epiglottitis, ultrasonography being the most effective. This method allows real−time obtaining the information about the state of the larynx tissues, in particular the epiglottis, on the architectonic tissue level. A complete coincidence of diagnoses according the echosonography findings of the larynx and clinical examination (including the findings of indirect laryngoscopy) is observed. The patients' condition improved and they were discharged from the hospital in healthy condition after a timely surgical intervention as well as on the background of causal and pathogenetic therapy. The effectiveness of treatment of patients with epiglottitis and its complications depends on accurate and timely topical diagnosis of the purulent−inflammatory focus, resulting in the adequate surgery. Thus, the proposed method of diagnosis using ultrasound reveals abscesses of the epiglottis at an early stage and allowed removal of the purulent content, prevention of severe complications of epiglottitis (purulent parapharyngitis, deep cellulitis of the neck and mediastinitis).
Key words: acute epiglottitis, ultrasound investigation, abscess of epiglottis.