Chronic upper airway obstruction is frequently unrecognized or misdiagnosed as other conditions such as asthma or chronic airflow obstruction (CAO). Clinical features such as stridor may lead to diagnosis or it may initially be suspected from the results of pulmonary function tests (PFTs) ordered for another reason. We will review the physiology and the pulmonary function tests which are necess...

During drug treatment of tuberculous lymphadenitis, paradoxical response (PR) may occasionally occur. Continued treatment or lymph node aspiration improves PR without severe sequelae. However, we report a case of severe PR in a patient with cervical lymph node tuberculosis causing airway obstruction due to retropharyngeal lymph node swelling during antituberculous treatment. Tracheostomy and dr...

Retropharyngeal haematoma as a cause of acute airway obstruction is uncommon and following low velocity neck hypertension is rare. We report the case of a 76-year-old man who, following a fall with neck hyperextension, developed a retropharyngeal haematoma which caused airway obstruction requiring cricothyroidotomy. Initially he complained of no neck pain. We discuss the importance of airway an...

Acute airway obstruction can result in life - threatening pulmonary edema. It can develop rapidly, without warning, in otherwise healthy patients. Negative pressure pulmonary edema has been described after acute airway obstruction in situations when a patient is breathing against an obstructed airway such as croup, epiglottitis or laryngospasm. In the following case, we observed a rare occurren...