Stridor in the Infant and Young Child.

Evaluate patients with stridor expediently, as it has the potential to be life-threatening. Ensuring adequate airway patency, breathing, and circulation (ABCs) is the first priority in managing stridor. Viral croup is the most common etiology of stridor in children, and typically presents along with symptoms of an upper respiratory infection. Patients presenting to the emergency department with croup should receive 0.6 mg/kg of dexamethasone. Those who are actively stridorous also should receive nebulized Lepinephrine. Suspect possible foreign body aspiration until it can be disproven. In chronic or subacute presentations of croup, the possible etiologies are myriad, and likely will require laryngoscopy. A viral upper respiratory infection is often the first presentation of underlying airway abnormalities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]