Laryngeal Edema

This is a placebo-controlled, double-blind randomized trial of a short course of intravenous corticosteroids for Acute Respiratory Failure Survivors with Fiberoptic Endoscopic Evaluation of Swallowing (FEES) documented laryngeal edema. Study was leveraged using the existing R01 grant infrastructure COMIRB # 21-3873, study design, and research methods. Patients for the study proposed will have already been enrolled in the R01 longitudinal cohort study. The sites to perform this study include Colorado, BU, Yale, Tufts, and Stanford. Those R01-enrolled patients with laryngeal edema on their initial FEES examination: defined as the revised Patterson edema score greater than zero, will be approached for enrollment.

This study evaluates laryngeal edema in ICU patients during weaning from mechanical ventilation. It compares the cuff leak test and ultrasound-based laryngeal air column measurements in predicting weaning success. Ultrasound offers a non-invasive and real-time alternative for airway assessment. The study also examines post-extubation complications such as stridor, sore throat, dysphonia, and dysphagia.