Endoscopic Evaluation and Findings in Children With Stridor of More Than One Month Duration

Abstract

Background and Aim: One of the most frequent complaints that bring a child to the hospital is noisy breathing which causes a lot of anxiety to the parents. Pediatricians are the first responders to this complaint, and managing such patients can challenge the skills of even of the most astute clinicians. We conducted this study intending to provide a simple algorithm with endoscopy as a primary tool to diagnose patients presenting with stridor of more than one-month duration Methods: Thirty-five patients were consecutively enrolled and given a number (1-35) in the same order. After due consent and proper preparation, endoscopic video evaluation was performed by the experts under sedation who were not part of the study. Results: All thirty-five patients were investigated and managed according to the standard protocol. The most common chief complaint was noisy breathing of more than one-month duration (n=24). We also found a correlation between the time of commencement of stridor and the likely etiology behind the stridor. The most common associate diagnosis was pneumonia with stridor. (n=6). (n=33) (94.28%) patients had abnormal findings at endoscopy out of which (n=17)(48.57%) patients required surgical management, whereas (n=18)(51.42%) patients were managed conservatively. Conclusion: we conclude that endoscopic evaluation should be performed in all patients presenting with chronic stridor to assess the airway and guide further investigations and management. We offer a simple diagnostic algorithm for approaching a child with chronic stridor that will save valuable time dealing with such patients.