ABSTRACT
Objective: To evaluate the clinical features of angio-oedema (AE) and their correlation with fibre-optic nasolaryngoscopy (FNL) findings.
Methods: The charts of adult AE patients for 225 episodes who were admitted as in-patients from January 2002 through December 2012 were reviewed.
Results: Of the 51 episodes (22.6%) with laryngeal swelling, 16 had exclusively laryngeal swelling; without oropharyngeal swelling. Swelling of the laryngeal structures on FNL was not significantly associated with a suspected aetiology or history of AE or allergies. Dysphagia (p = 0.033) and swelling of the posterior pharyngeal wall (p = 0.011) were the only clinical features that had a significant positive correlation with laryngeal swelling.
Conclusion: All patients with AE should undergo a FNL examination as part of the initial assessment. Patients with dysphagia and posterior pharyngeal wall swelling on clinical examination has significant positive correlation with laryngeal swelling on scopy examination; hence these patients should be referred to the otolaryngologist and to a facility with intensive care unit care as early as possible for safe management.
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