[Critical and emergency medical care in ammonia intoxication of upper respiratory tract]

37 subjects were admitted to hospital after the accident which caused their exposure to liquid ammonia which produced respiratory lesions in 29 of them. The severity of the respiratory damage depended on oxygen insufficiency (stenosing laryngeal or tracheal bronchitis, pneumonia) and intoxication. Multimodality treatment resulted in cure of 24 patients, 3 patients improved, 2 patients died. The authors think it proper to place such victims into general hospitals where multiprofile care can be rendered including that of ENT specialist whose care proved necessary for the majority of the above patients. Subjects exposed to ammonia can be transported to distant hospitals as the symptoms worsen gradually.