Examination of Clinical, Endoscopy and One-Year Follow-Up Findings of Children with Accidental Ingestion of Caustic Substances Admitted to Shahid Sadoughi Hospital (2016-2019)

Accidental ingestion of caustic substances can cause serious damage to the digestive system. This study was conducted with the aim of investigating the incidence of esophageal stricture within one year after accidental ingestion of caustic substances and its relationship with the first endoscopic findings in children.

The present study was a retrospective and cross-sectional study that has been conducted for 3 years on children with accidental ingestion of caustic substances referred to Shahid Sadoughi Hospital in Yazd City (August 2015-2015). Demographic information, type and amount of ingested material, initial symptoms, initial endoscopic findings and degree of esophageal tissue burn were recorded and the patients were followed up for one year. Finally, the data were analyzed by SPSS version 22 software.

In this study, 55 children were evaluated, their average age was 3.19 years. Participants consisted of 23 (41.8%) girls and 32 (58.2%) boys. Children had ingested pipe openers chemicals (30.9%), bleach liquid (29.1%) and  hydrochloric acid (12.7%), respectively. Initial endoscopic findings were normal in 45.5% of children, and the most damage was grade IIb and IIa. The incidence rate of esophageal stricture in month later was 47.3%, and in the year later, the total incidence of stricture and GOO was 27.3% (16.4% of esophageal stricture and 7.3% of stricture and GOO).

The present study showed that esophageal injury following the accidental ingestion of caustic substances is common in children, and the presence of symptoms in the patients at the beginning of the visit can be associated with higher grade injuries, and the occurrence of stricture is more common after severe injuries.