Emergency ear, nose and throat admissions at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital, Accra

Abstract

Background: Ear Nose and Throat (ENT) emer-gencies are common in all communities. Early diagnosis and prompt management will result in reduction in morbidity and mortality. Objectives: To assess the size and distribution of ENT emergencies, obtain base line data and out-line preventive measures. Design: Clinical records of patients admitted for ENT emergency care at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital from 1st January 2000 to 31st December 2002 were studied with respect to sex, age, diag-nosis on admission and outcome of emergency care. Exclusion criteria were admissions for termi-nal cancer care. Results: A total of 750 patients made up of 476 males and 274 females were admitted for emer-gency care. The age range was 1 month to 100 years; mean age was 25.5 years and median age was 18.23 years. The commonest causes of emer-gency admissions were foreign bodies in the oe-sophagus in 310 (41.3%) patients, epistaxis in 126 (16.7%) patients, throat infections in 118 (15.7%) patients and stridor in 61 (8.1%) patients. Twenty (2.7%) admitted emergencies died. Conclusion: The commonest causes of ENT emergency admissions were foreign bodies in the oesophagus, epistaxis, throat infections and stridor