Korean J Gastrointest Endosc.  2001 Aug;23(2):82-87.

A Clinical Study on the Upper Gastrointestinal Tract Injury Caused by Corrosive Agent

• Yoon KW
• Park MH
• Park GS
• Jung PJ
• Joo YE
• Kim HS
• Rew JS
• Kim SJ

Abstract

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The incidence of corrosive injury has been decreased, compared with past years. However, the ingestion of corrosive agent for suicidal attempt is on an increasing trend. Though corrosive injury on gastrointestinal tract is very common, there are few clinical studies on this field.
METHODS
Retrospective study was performed on 48 patients who ingested corrosive agent from 1992 to 1998. The kinds of corrosive agent, cause of ingestion, symptoms, gastroscopic findings, treatment and complications were analyzed.
RESULTS
The most common agent of ingestion was acetic acid (47.9%), followed by hydrocholoric acid (18.8%), cresol (10.4%), lye (10.4%), sulfuric acid (4.2%). Ingestion for suicidal attempt (60.4%) was more frequent than accidental ingestion (39.6%). The frequent symptoms were sore throat (31.3%), dysphagia (27.1%), epigastric pain (22.9%), vomiting (18.8%), chest pain (18.8%), GI bleeding (12.5%), dyspnea (12.5%) and hematuria (8.3%). The esophagus was the most common site of corrosive injury and Grade IIa injury was the most frequent finding on gastroscopy. In most cases, prophylactic antibiotics with or without steroid was administered for conservative treatment. For long-term sequelae, there were 7 cases (14.6%) of esophageal stricture, and 2 cases (4.2%) of gastric outlet obstruction.
CONCLUSIONS
Corrosive injury on gastrointestinal tract is frequently observed on early gastroscopy and can cause significant late sequelae, such as stricture. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate regular follow up gastroscopy for the management of late sequelae.

Keyword

Corrosive agent; Corrosive injury

MeSH Terms

Acetic Acid
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Chest Pain
Constriction, Pathologic
Deglutition Disorders
Dyspnea
Eating
Esophageal Stenosis
Esophagus
Follow-Up Studies
Gastric Outlet Obstruction
Gastrointestinal Tract
Gastroscopy
Hematuria
Hemorrhage
Humans
Incidence
Lye
Pharyngitis
Retrospective Studies
Sulfur
Upper Gastrointestinal Tract*
Vomiting
Acetic Acid
Anti-Bacterial Agents
Lye
Sulfur