Less musical sounding than a wheeze, stridor is a high-pitched, turbulent sound that can happen when a child inhales or exhales. Stridor usually indicates an obstruction or narrowing in the upper airway, outside of the chest cavity.
Stridor is a high-pitched sound that is usually heard best when your child breathes in (known as “inspiration”). It's usually caused by an obstruction or narrowing in your child's upper airway.
Stridor is a noisy or high-pitched sound with breathing. It is a sign that the upper airway is partially blocked. It may involve the nose, mouth, sinuses, voice box (larynx), or windpipe (trachea).
The main sign of stridor is a high-pitched whistle that can sound like a squeak when you breathe in or out. Depending on the cause, you might experience additional symptoms that could include: Coughing. Drooling.
In the patient is unstable, there may be signs of respiratory distress, gasping, drooling, fatigue, cyanosis, and these signs prompt a more rapid evaluation and rapid management to ensure airway patency. This can include endotracheal intubation or emergency surgical airway.
Stridor is usually diagnosed based on health history and a physical exam. The child may need a hospital stay and emergency surgery, depending on how severe the stridor is. If left untreated, stridor can block the child's airway. This can be life-threatening or even cause death.
Stridor isn't always dangerous, but in some cases it can be life-threatening. Your healthcare provider should always check your stridor, especially if it's sudden or severe.
The condition is most common in newborns, infants, and toddlers because their airways are narrower—so even a small blockage can interfere with easy breathing. This condition also affects adults. A narrowed or blocked airway can be a medical emergency.
Treatment may include: Referral to an ear, nose and throat specialist (ENT) Surgery, if the stridor is severe. Medicines by mouth or shots to help decrease the swelling in the airways or treat an infection.
The airway is partially obstructed during inspiration by the prolapse of the flaccid epiglottis, arytenoids and aryepiglottic folds. The inspiratory stridor is usually worse when the child is in a supine position, when crying or agitated, or when an upper respiratory tract infection occurs.
Stridor is a higher-pitched noisy that occurs with obstruction in or just below the voice box. Determination of whether stridor occurs during inspiration, expiration, or both helps to define the level of obstruction. Wheezing is a high-pitched noise that occurs during expiration.
In most cases, this is a harmless condition that goes away on its own without treatment. It usually improves by the time the child reaches 18 months of age. There are no long-term complications, but a small number of children may develop severe breathing problems that may require surgery or other medical treatment.
Doctors at Hassenfeld Children's Hospital at NYU Langone recommend treatment for stridor, or noisy breathing, depending on its cause. Many children don't need any treatment and outgrow the condition by the time they are two.
Children with croup have a distinctive barking cough and will make a harsh sound, known as stridor, when they breathe in. They may also have a hoarse voice and find it difficult to breathe because their airway is blocked.
Doctors must treat severe stridor immediately to prevent the airway from closing off. A severely blocked airway can cause an inability to breathe, which could result in respiratory failure. Respiratory failure is when blood oxygen levels become dangerously low or blood carbon dioxide levels become dangerously high.
Treatment / drug therapy
Dexamethasone oral (unless swallowing problems then IV) 8mg twice daily (morning and lunchtime) if no contraindications and add in gastroprotection if appropriate (e.g. omeprazole oral 20mg once daily or lansoprazole 30mg once daily if no contraindications).
Croup is a viral infection of the vocal cords. It is usually part of a cold. The hoarseness is due to swelling of the vocal cords. Stridor occurs as the opening between the cords becomes more narrow.
Stridor may be louder with exertion, feeding and crying. It may also be worse when lying on the back. It may be quieter when sleeping or resting quietly.
If you think croup and stridor are basically the same, you're not alone. Although both conditions can occur with airway obstruction, they're different entities. The primary distinction: stridor is a sign of airway obstruction, whereas croup is a syndrome that can cause stridor.
It may be inspiratory (most common), expiratory, or biphasic, depending on its timing in the respiratory cycle, and the three forms each suggest different causes, as follows: Inspiratory stridor suggests a laryngeal obstruction. Expiratory stridor implies tracheobronchial obstruction.
Causes of Stridor in Adults
Bilateral vocal cord paralysis is a common cause of stridor in adults. It results from a disruption in nerve function in both of the vocal cords—the two small structures in the throat that vibrate and collide to produce sound—leading to vocal cord tissues blocking the airway.
So how can you treat stridor? One of the best things to do when you're at home is get the shower all steamed up and get your child in the bathroom, because warm, moist air seems to work best to relax the vocal cords and break the stridor.
Stridor. Stridor is a high-pitched musical sound heard on inspiration, which resembles wheezing. When listening with a stethoscope, if the sound is louder over the throat, it is stridor, not wheezing.
Stridor: Causes and possible diseases in adults
The causes of stridor often are associated with the bronchi and the lungs. The causes of expiratory stridor in adults often include diseases of the respiratory tracts, which make exhalation difficult: Bronchial asthma. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)