Therapeutic and Clinical Traits of Ludwig’s Angina: A 10-year retrospective study of 24 patients

Introduction: Ludwig's angina is a life-threatening infection that affects the floor of mouth and originates from odontogenic infections in more than 90% of cases. Aim: This study aimed to recognize the clinical and therapeutic traits of Ludwig's angina. Method & Materials: In this retrospective study, medical records of hospitalized patients in the Oral and Maxillofacial Department, Tehran Taleghani Hospital between 2006-2016 with deep neck infections and Ludwig's angina diagnosis were checked. Then patients were compared in terms of demographic, anatomical, risk factors, clinical course and treatment characteristics. Data were analyzed with SPSS software version 18. Results: The results showed that of 325 studied patients, 24 patients (7.38%) had Ludwig's angina which of these, 3 patients (12.5%) died ultimately. There was a statistically significant relationship between the occurrence of dyspnea, involved anatomical areas and days of hospitalization in ICU and death; however, there was no significant relationship between gender, age, socioeconomic status, fever, maximum and minimum blood pressure, heart rate, white blood cells count, Odynophagia, origin of infection, received antibiotics, hospitalized days and systemic diseases with death. Conclusion: Ludwig's angina is a fatal infection and requires immediate intervention and results showed involved about 8% of Deep Infections of Head and Neck Area, and the mortality rate of these patients is approximately 12.5%. Therefore, diagnosis and treatment of this disease is important in emergencies.