Fibrinous Laryngotracheobronchitis in Children

Abstract

During the last 12 years, 246 cases of fibrinous laryngotracheobronchitis (LTB) in infants and small children were evaluated at the Otolaryngology Department, Medical Academy, Krakow, Poland. Further evidence was found that virus infection is the primary etiologic factor in this still very dangerous disease. Endoscopic pictures of the respiratory passages in fibrinous LTB were correlated with histopathologic findings, obtained by systematic postmortem examination of all deceased children. It was shown that the first and most important pathologic changes brought about by a virus infection is a diffuse damage of the ciliary epithelium of the respiratory mucosa.