When the vocal cords become inflamed or infected, they swell. This can cause hoarseness. Sometimes, the airway can get blocked. Laryngitis often occurs with an upper respiratory infection , which is typically caused by a virus. Several forms of laryngitis occur in children that can lead to dangerous or fatal respiratory blockage.
These forms include:. People with hoarseness that lasts more than a month especially smokers will need to see an ear, nose, and throat doctor otolaryngologist. Tests of the throat and upper airway will be done. Common laryngitis is often caused by a virus, so antibiotics likely will not help. Your health care provider will make this decision.
Resting your voice helps to reduce inflammation of the vocal cords. A humidifier may soothe the scratchy feeling that comes with laryngitis. How many dangerous breeds of dogs are there? How do you know whether you have the viral laryngitis or the bacterial laryngitis? Which organ is affected by laryngitis? How is loud sound dangerous for us? Are fossil fuels dangerous if so how? Is polio fatal? Can a cat catch laryngitis from a human? What is organ afected by laryngitis?
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Get the Answers App. All Rights Reserved. This is considered phonotrauma and can cause long-term and even permanent damage if the situation is repeated. Your health care provider will review your medical history, symptoms and any potentially triggering factors. A visual inspection of your vocal cords may be performed with a mirror or using a small camera attached to a thin, flexible tube. The quality of your voice also may be evaluated. For example, your voice may sound breathy or weak, or have a tremor quality that may offer clues to the source of the medical problem.
In some cases, tests used to measure voice irregularities, airflow and other characteristics can help reach a diagnosis. This may be due to ongoing infection, smoking, allergies, other irritants, persistent vocal strain or reflux.
Certain medications also can affect your voice. Hoarseness due to chronic laryngitis typically improves by eliminating the underlying cause. The early treatment reduces significantly the severity of the burn. Edlich et al 14 described that physiopathologically most chemical agents damage the skin, more by means of a chemical reaction than for a hyperthermal injury. Although some chemical agents produce considerable heat as a result of an exothermal reaction when in contact with water, they end up producing chemical changes directly on the skin and result in higher damages.
The chemical changes depend upon the agents, whether acid or alkaline ones. The concentration of the toxic agent, as well as the duration of the primary contact, determines the degree of destruction of the tissues affected. When the skin is exposed to the chemical action of the caustic substance, the keratin cover is destroyed and the skin tissues are exposed, there occurs a continual necrotic action.
The alkaline chemical products dissolve the protein and the collagen, which result in these molecules alkaline complexes. There is also cellular dehydration and saponifying of the fat tissues. Differently from the acid burns, that are dry and with slight edema, the alkaline ones are marked by edema, large moist and loss of liquid.
The alkaloid exposure neutralization is carried out by irrigating the burnt place with a great amount of water to dilute all the alkaloid present in the injury surface, which still didn't produce reaction The chemical burns keep on destroying the tissues until the causing agent is inactivated or removed.
When hydrotherapy begins after the contact of the chemical product with the skin, within one minute, the severity of the lesions is lower than when it takes 3 minutes, for instance. The early treatment normalizes the skin pH.
The time of the caustic contact with the tissues determines the lesions severity. The soft irrigation of the skin, with a large volume of water and low pressure, for long time, dilutes the toxic agent After exposure to a strong alkaloid, the prolonged hydrotherapy is specially important to limit the injuries severity.
In experimental animals, the pH of the chemically burnt skin does not approach the normal concentration, unless we maintain one more hour of continuous irrigation and, even so, in spite of the hydrotherapy, it does not return to normal in less than 12 hours The ammonia vapors dissolve immediately in the moist of the skin, eyes, oropharynx, larynx and lungs, in the shape of hydroxyl ions that cause chemical burns through the liquefaction necrosis.
The severity of the lesions is directly associated to the concentration and duration of the AA exposure Macroscopically, we confirmed, in necropsy, that there occurs an intense congestion of the trachea and bronchia mucosa surface. All the pulmonary divisions present with cylindrical bronchiectasies, and affect mainly the middle and lower lobes. Microscopically, the bronchial mucosa was replaced by the granulation tissue and large areas had the epithelium removed.
Ulcerated parts and squamous metaplasia were present in the bronchial subsegments. The bronchiectasy was associated to the destruction of the mucous glands, the soft musculature, the cartilage and the replacement for vascular fibrous tissue. Each bronchiole presented with a soft periadventitial fibrosis or an aspect of obliterating bronchiolitis. There was congestion, hemorrhage and unequal edema of the alveolar tissue 2. The extension of the respiratory lesions after inhalation of AA depends on the exposure duration, gas concentration and inhaling depth.
For being highly soluble in water, the ammonia is quickly absorbed by the mucous membrane, by reacting with water to form the ammonia hydroxide that is highly irritating and caustic. The burns and desquamations of the epithelial layers of the bronchial tree tracheobronchitis are frequent. The absorption of ammonia by the upper airways somehow protects the lower bronchia and the alveolus from its toxicity 5.
In patients who died immediately after AA inhalation, they observed edema and hemorrhage in the larynx and lungs. In patients interned, it was confirmed within a few days, that it superposed on bacterial infection.
Those who survived from the acute lesions may present or not evidences of obstructive pulmonary disease, with bronchiectasies and obliterating fibrosis of the lower airways The initial treatment for whom inhaled AA consists of antibiotic therapy, bronchodilators, corticosteroids and oxygen inhalation 5. In the most severe cases, we recommend the nasal or orotracheal intubation and, if applicable, tracheostomy. After intubation, the lower airways lesions are controlled by positive end expiratory pressure PEEP Through laryngoscopy, we observed that, after AA inhalation, we may find since diffuse erythema and edema of lips, soft palate, posterior wall of the pharynx and epiglottis, up to first, second and third degree burns in the oropharyngeal, hypopharyngeal and laryngeal cavities After 15 days, we may note, on the soft palate mucosa, portions with fibrin and diffuse edema with fibrinous exudate in all the oropharyngolarynx.
After 60 days, we observed an improvement of dysphonia and the laryngoscopy revealed a sight vocal cords edema 1. Some sequelae were observed that consisted of damages to senses taste, hypalgesia or vision , severe dysesthesia, voice change, loss of pulmonary function, cerebral anoxia and death 3.
FINAL COMMENTS The AA gas inhalation results in a glottis spasm that, in one hand, may prevent the smoke from reaching the lower airways, but, in the other hand, maintains the gas in contact, for a longer time, with the glottic and supraglottic region, and may lead to a more profound burn of this region.
The very defense reflex contributes to worsen the damage to the larynx. Despite the burns for alkalis result in an exothermal reaction when in contact with water, by releasing heat, the prolonged irrigation neutralizes the AA toxicity, and normalizes the injury pH.
The sooner the hydrotherapic treatment is started in the affected parts, in order to neutralize the burns caused by alkalis, the better the treatment results will be.
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