Esophageal ruptures: triage using the systemic inflammatory response syndrome score.

Esophageal rupture is a rare entity. Delay in the diagnosis and treatment may threaten the patient's life. The decision for surgical or nonsurgical treatment, however, remains controversial because advocates of both treatments have reported comparable results. To quantify the decision making, we suggest the systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) score for triage of an esophageal rupture. Using this criterion for 12 patients resulted in the survival of all of them. Therefore, we advocate use of the SIRS score for triage of an esophageal rupture.