Which is a LATE sign of inhalation injury?

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Which is a LATE sign of inhalation injury?

A. Stridor

B. Laryngeal edema

C. Soot filled mucus

D. Dyspnea

I think the answer is A. Stridor but not sure. Can anybody know the answer?

Thank you!!

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Please share why you think the answer is stridor and I'll share with you what I think the answer is and my rational.. ?

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Specializes in PICU.

I have my idea, but would like to know why you chose stridor

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I thought...the soot filled with mucus is the presentation that we might think the patient has inhalation injury in burn event. Dyspnea is a complication of respiratory distress. Laryngeal edema can cause respiratory distress which can cause stridor.

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Specializes in PICU.
54 minutes ago, ekwon said:

I thought...the soot filled with mucus is the presentation that we might think the patient has inhalation injury in burn event. Dyspnea is a complication of respiratory distress. Laryngeal edema can cause respiratory distress which can cause stridor.

The question is asking what is a LATE sign. Soot filled mucus is a SMOKE inhalation injury. Laryngeal edema causes stridor and dyspnea.

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2 hours ago, ekwon said:

I thought...the soot filled with mucus is the presentation that we might think the patient has inhalation injury in burn event. Dyspnea is a complication of respiratory distress. Laryngeal edema can cause respiratory distress which can cause stridor.

This is not bad logic... and since you asked this in the NCLEX forum, I'll provide my thinking within the "NCLEX world"

1st NEVER assume about the question and NEVER add anything to the question. With this in mind, think about the the chain of events of an inhalation injury to a person that was previously breathing normally.

Once the lining of the lungs become irritated then they will start to swell --> once they swell far enough to start restricting air movement you would start to hear noises such as wheezing and in severe enough cases stridor --> dyspnea occurs when the exchange of oxygen is no longer sufficient to meet demands. So I would argue that technically speaking you should be able to hear any stridor prior to the dyspnea - but this process is usually very rapid and could be very easy to miss on a live patient.

Now in the "real" world - if someone is involved in a fire and has inhaled soot then really we would anticipate their ANS giving them a burst of adrenaline and activating the fight or flight response causing an increase respiratory rate and could be confused as dyspnea caused by the inhalation injury when it is actually not.

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Specializes in BSN, RN-BC, NREMT, EMT-P, TCRN.

Definitely stridor.

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