Ingestion of caustic substances and its complications

RESUMO

CONTEXT Caustic substances cause tissue destruction through liquefaction or coagulation reactions and the intensity of destruction depends on the type, concentration, time of contact and amount of the substance ingested. OBJECTIVES: To analyze the complications in patients who ingested caustic substances and correlate them with the amount of caustic soda ingested. DESIGN: Retrospective study. SETTING: University hospital, a referral center. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 239 patients who ingested caustic soda. MAIN MEASUREMENTS The amount of granulated caustic substance ingested was measured as tablespoonfuls and the following complications were analyzed esophagitis, esophageal stenosis and progression to cancer, fistulas, perforations, stomach lesions, brain abscesses, and death. Stenosis was classified as mild, moderate or severe according to the radiological findings. RESULTS: We observed an 89.3 percent incidence of esophagitis; 72.6 percent of the cases involved progression to stenosis and 1 percent died during the acute phase. Stenosis was mild in 17.6 percent of cases, moderate in 59.3 percent and severe in 23 percent. The incidence of stenosis was 80.8 percent in women and 62.5 percent in men. The incidence of stenosis was 46.9 percent in the group that ingested