RT Book, Section A1 Roy, Linnea Wittick A2 Tenenbein, Milton A2 Macias, Charles G. A2 Sharieff, Ghazala Q. A2 Yamamoto, Loren G. A2 Schafermeyer, Robert SR Print(0) ID 1155296494 T1 Upper Airway Emergencies T2 Strange and Schafermeyer's Pediatric Emergency Medicine, 5e YR 2019 FD 2019 PB McGraw-Hill Education PP New York, NY SN 9781259860751 LK accessemergencymedicine.mhmedical.com/content.aspx?aid=1155296494 RD 2024/03/28 AB The most common cause of acute upper airway obstruction is croup. Other causes include epiglottitis, foreign-body obstruction, peritonsillar abscess, bacterial tracheitis, and retropharyngeal abscess.Upper airway obstruction may originate anywhere in the upper airway from anterior nares to subglottic region.The clinician must maintain an awareness of the unique anatomic and physiologic characteristics of the respiratory tract in the growing infant and child in order to diagnose and manage upper airway emergencies.Identifying the source for the respiratory distress, particularly differentiating between upper and lower airway pathologies, is a critical early step of the evaluation and management of these patients.Key signs differentiating between upper and lower obstructive processes are wheezes and respiratory rate. Wheezes indicate lower airway obstruction and a very rapid respiratory rate; >40 breaths per minute indicate that the respiratory distress is not due to an upper airway obstructive pathology.