Paeds Resp Flashcards
What are signs and symptoms of respiratory distress ?
- Raised RR
- Use of accessory muscles – sternocleidomastoid, abdominal and intercostal
- Intercostal and subcostal recessions
- Nasal flaring
- Head bobbing
- Tracheal tug
- Cyanosis
- Abnormal airway noises (silent, grunting, wheeze. Stridor)
What is wheeze ?
- A whistling sound caused by narrowed airways typically heard during expiration
Which respiratory conditions present with wheeze ?
- Viral induced wheeze
- Acute and chronic asthma
- Bronchiolitis
- CF
- Chronic lung disease of prematurity
What is a respiratory grunt and when is it heard ?
- Caused by exhaling with the glottis partially closed to increase positive end pressure
- Hear during respiratory distress e.g. asthma, VIW, bronchiolitis, bronchopulmonary dysplasia
- Transient tachypnoea of new born
What is stridor ?
- High pitched inspiratory noise caused by obstruction of the airway
What can cause stridor ?
- Epiglottis
- Croup
What is pneumonia ?
- Infection of the lung tissue causing inflammation of the tissue and sputum to fill the airway and alveoli
- Seen as consolidation on chest X-ray
- Can be viral, bacterial or atypical bacterial
MCC of pneumonia
- Strep pneumonia (most common)
Causes of pneumonia (bacterial)
- Strep pneumonia
- Group A and B step
- Haemophilus influenza
- Mycoplasma pneumonia (atypical)
Viral causes of pneumonia
- RSV (MC)
- Parainfluenza virus
- Influenza virus
Presentation of pneumonia
- Wet and productive cough
- High fever (>38.5)
- Tachypnoea
- Tachycardia
- Increased work of breathing
- Lethargy
- Delirium
Signs of sepsis secondary to pneumonia
- Tachypnoea
- Tachycardia
- Hypoxia
- Hypotension
- Fever
- Confusion
Typical respiratory exam findings of pneumonia
- Bronchial breath sounds
- Focal coarse crackles
- Dullness to percussion
What are bronchial breath sounds ?
- Harsh breath sounds are equally loud on inspiration and expiration
- Caused by consolidation of the lung tissue around the airway
Why are there focal coarse crackles in pneumonia ?
- Caused by air passing though the sputum
Investigations of pneumonia
- Chest X-ray
- Sputum cultures and throat swabs for culture or PCR
- (Blood cultures plus capillary blood gas if sepsis)
Management of pneumonia (bacterial)
- 1st line amoxicillin
- Add macrolide (erythromycin, clarithromycin or azithromycin) to cover atypical or pen allergy
- IV if septic or oxygen below 92%
Investigations for recurrent LRTIs resulting in admission and ABs
- Thorough Hx
- FBC
- C-xray
- Serum immunoglobulins
- Immunoglobulin G
- Sweat test
- HIV
What is croup ?
- An acute infective respiratory disease that affects young children
- Typically 6m to 2 years
- URTI causing oedema in the larynx
- Usually improves in 48 hours and responds to dexamethasone
MCC of croup ?
- Parainfluenza virus
Causes of croup ?
- Parainfluenza virus (MCC)
- Influenza virus
- Adenovirus
- RSV
Croup presentation
- Barking cough occurring in clusters and episodes
- Increased work of breathing
- Hoarse voice
- Stridor
- Low grade fever
Management of croup
- Most cases can be managed at home with simple supportive treatment (fluids and rest)
- Oral dexamethasone is very effective
- Single dose of 150mcg/kg which can be repeated if required after 12 hours
Stepwise management of severe croup
- Oral dexamethasone
- Oxygen
- Nebulised budesonide
- Nebulised adrenalin
- Intubation and ventilation
How dose acute asthma present ?
- Progressive worsening SOB
- Signs of respiratory distress
- Tachypnoea
- Expiratory wheeze on auscultation heard through the chest
- Chest can sound ‘’tight’’ on auscultation with reduced air entry
Red flag/ominous sign for acute asthma
- Silent chest
- This means that the airways are so tight that it is impossible for the child to move enough air through the airways to wheeze
- Might be associated with reduced respiratory effort due to fatigue and is life threatening
Features of moderate acute asthma
- Peak flow > 50% predicted
- Normal speech
- No accessory muscle involvement
Features of severe acute asthma
- Peak flow < 50% predicted
- Saturations < 92%
- Unable to complete sentences in one breath
- Signs of respiratory distress
- RR > 40 in 1-5
- RR > 30 in > 5 years
- HR >140 in 1-5 years
- HR > 125 > 5 years
Signs of life-threatening asthma
- Peak flow < 33% predicted
- Sats < 92%
- Exhaustion and poor respiratory effort
- Hypotension
- Silent chest
- Cyanosis
- Altered GCS/confusion
Stapels of management of acute asthma and viral induced wheeze
- Oxygen if <94% or working hard
- Bronchodilators e.g. salbutamol, ipratropium and magnesium sulphate
- (ABs – only if bacterial cause suspected e.g. amoxicillin or erythromycin)