Potentially lethal pharyngolaryngeal edema with dyspnea in adult patients with mumps: A series of 5 cases

In this article we describe 5 rare cases of mumps-associated pharyngolaryngeal edema. To the best of our knowledge, this report includes the first case of mumps-associated pharyngolaryngeal edema in a patient who had previously received mumps vaccination, and these cases represent the sixth report of mumps-associated pharyngolaryngeal edema in the English literature. All 5 of our patients with mumps infection were adults and manifested airway stenosis due to pharyngolaryngeal edema. This edema responded favorably to steroid treatment without tracheotomy. We conclude that a pharyngolaryngeal examination is recommended for patients with mumps infection. Steroid treatment is usually effective against pharyngolaryngeal edema; however, in certain cases tracheotomy may be inevitable.