American journal of diseases of children (1911)
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Comparative Study
Respiratory status of children with epiglottitis with and without an artificial airway.
During a ten-year period, 22 children from our 170 cases of acute epiglottitis had reliable records of arterial blood gas data. The arterial/alveolar (a/A) oxygen tension ratios were calculated, with a value less than 0.75 representing abnormal gas exchange. ⋯ Thirty-three percent of initial chest roentgenograms were abnormal, with the major disorder being atelectasis and/or consolidation. We propose that the radiologic and gas exchange abnormalities result from the common pathophysiologic mechanism of increased lung water.