Incidence of Mortality and Its Relation to Comorbidity in Ludwig’s Angina: A Retrospective Study

• Published in: Journal of maxillofacial and oral surgery 2024-06, Vol.23 (3), p.581-588
• Main Authors: Sahoo, N. K., Thakral, Ankur, Pandey, Swati, Vaswani, Himani, Vashisht, Sahil, Maheshwari, Isha
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Abscesses; Age; Airway management; Angina pectoris; Antibiotics; Burns; Cardiovascular disease; Cellulitis; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Clinical Focus; Comorbidity; Dentistry; Diabetes; Emergency medical care; Fatalities; Hypertension; Infections; Intensive care; Intubation; Kidney diseases; Liver cirrhosis; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Mortality; Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery; Ostomy; Otorhinolaryngology; Patients; Plastic Surgery; Tracheotomy
• ISSN: 0972-8279; 0974-942X
• DOI: 10.1007/s12663-024-02116-5

Introduction Ludwig’s angina is a serious life-threatening infective condition of maxillofacial region due to odontogenic origin which is clinically diagnosed by its clinical signs and symptoms. Airway management and early surgical decompression is the main stay of management. The mortality rates in Ludwig’s angina remains multivariate. There is a paucity in literature regarding the mortality rates of this disease. Aim and Objectives Aim of this retrospective study is to describes the characteristics, probable cause of death and mortality rates of patients with co-morbidities presenting to the emergency department (ED) who were subsequently admitted with a primary diagnosis of Ludwig’s angina. Materials and Method Study was conducted in the department of maxillofacial surgery in a tertiary care teaching hospital from Jan 2011 to Dec 2022. Data of 17 patients who were clinically diagnosed as Ludwig’s angina were included in the study. The comorbidity, source of odontongenic cause, mode of intubation and the outcome of the disease were evaluated. Result Comparison of categorical variables was done using Fishers exact test. A p-value of