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.