Sudden Death from Acute Epiglottitis and Epiglottic Abscess in Adult

Sang Jae Noh; Ho Lee

doi:10.7580/kjlm.2015.39.2.49

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Noh and Lee: Sudden Death from Acute Epiglottitis and Epiglottic Abscess in Adult

Case Report

Korean J Leg Med 2015;39(2):49-52.

Published online: 17 January 2015

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7580/kjlm.2015.39.2.49

Sudden Death from Acute Epiglottitis and Epiglottic Abscess in Adult

Sang Jae Noh, Ho Lee

Department of Forensic Medicine, Chonbuk National University Medical School, Jeonju, Korea

Correspondence to Ho Lee Department of Forensic Medicine, Chonbuk National University Medical School, 567 Baekje-daero, Deokjin-gu, Jeonju 561-756, Korea Tel: +82-63-270-3064 Fax: +82-63-270-4598 E-mail: foremed@jbnu.ac.kr

Received 15 April 2015 Revised 1 May 2015 Accepted 8 May 2015

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Acute epiglottitis is an inflammation of the epiglottis and adjacent structures. Although the incidence is extremely rare, acute epiglottitis is a life-threatening medical emergency and can cause sudden respiratory obstruction. Herein, we describe two cases of sudden death from epiglottitis and epiglottic abscess. A 39-year-old man and 66-year-old man died after suffering from shortness of breath. Autopsies revealed diffuse swelling and abscess formation in the epiglottis and neighboring structures. These cases emphasize the medicolegal importance of sudden death from acute epiglottitis and epiglottic abscess in adults.

Keywords: Epiglottitis, Abscess, Airway obstruction, Sudden death, Adult

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Fig. 1.

(A) Case 1: diffuse swelling of epiglottis with redness and cystic dilation on the right lingual surface (arrowhead). (B) Case 2: diffuse swelling of epiglottis with the formation of visible, yellowish abscess along the right aryepiglottic fold (arrow).

Fig. 2.

Microscopic finding of epiglottitis and epiglottic abscess, with dense infiltration of neutrophils and necrotic material in mucosal and submucosal tissues (H&E, ×20).

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