Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Turkiye Klinikleri Journal of Medical Sciences, cilt.43, sa.1, ss.22-28, 2023 (Scopus)
Objective: Accidental caustic ingestions cause damagecomplications in the gastrointestinal tract. In our study, the characteristics of children who underwent endoscopy due to caustic ingestions were evaluated. Material and Methods: The demographic, clinic, endoscopic data of symptomatic children who underwent endoscopy due to caustic ingestions between 2016-2021 were reviewed. According to Zargar classification, patients with normal or mild findings on endoscopy were defined as Group 1; those with moderate/severe findings on endoscopy were defined as Group 2. The data of the two groups were compared. Results: The mean age of 284 patients included in our study was 42±41 months, and 58.4% of them were male. The most frequently exposed caustic agents were household cleaning chemicals (87.3%). Most of the caustic agents exposed were alkaline (78.9%) and 64.3% were in granule form. Esophageal corrosive damage compatible with at least Grade 2a was found in 26.1% of the patients. Complaints of drooling, dysphagia were more frequent in Group 2 compared to Group 1 (p<0.05). There was a statistically significant difference between the groups in terms of the chemical properties of exposed agents. In the follow-up, esophageal stenosis was detected in 2.8% of the patients and pyloric stenosis was detected in 1 patient. Conclusion: The results of our study showed that drooling and dysphagia symptoms are important in predicting esophageal damage in caustic ingestions, but oropharyngeal examination findings may be misleading. Preventive medicine approaches, inspections and sanctions for corrosive chemicals that are produced, sold, stored improperly are important in preventing these accidents.