OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyse the caustic and household detergent exposure cases were admitted to the Department of Emergency Medicine at Dokuz Eylul University Hospital (EMDEU) between 1993 and 2008. METHODS: Age, sex, reason of exposure, clinical signs, rate of endoscopy in oral exposures, treatment attempts, length of hospital stay and outcome were evaluated. A chi-square test was used to analyse statistical differences. RESULTS: Caustic exposures accounted for 8.5% (1160 cases) and 4.1% (1988 cases) of all poisonings in children and adults, respectively. Female/male ratio of caustic exposure poisonings was 0.8. Most of the exposures were unintentional (158, 86.8%). Intentional exposures were common in cases between 19 and 29 years old (χ(2) = 25.685, p < 0.001). The most common caustic substance was alkaline (106, 58.3%) followed by acidic (47, 25.8%) and other household detergents (28, 15.4%). Vomiting (35.7%), nausea (14.8%) and sore throat (13.1%) were the most common clinical signs. The patients who had endoscopy, the most frequent finding was first-degree damage (58.7%). A 48-year-old man died from intentional hydrochloric acid ingestion. CONCLUSION: Because of the large number of unintentional caustic exposures, parent education is very important to decrease the caustic exposures in children.
OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to analyse the caustic and household detergent exposure cases were admitted to the Department of Emergency Medicine at Dokuz Eylul University Hospital (EMDEU) between 1993 and 2008. METHODS: Age, sex, reason of exposure, clinical signs, rate of endoscopy in oral exposures, treatment attempts, length of hospital stay and outcome were evaluated. A chi-square test was used to analyse statistical differences. RESULTS: Caustic exposures accounted for 8.5% (1160 cases) and 4.1% (1988 cases) of all poisonings in children and adults, respectively. Female/male ratio of caustic exposure poisonings was 0.8. Most of the exposures were unintentional (158, 86.8%). Intentional exposures were common in cases between 19 and 29 years old (χ(2) = 25.685, p < 0.001). The most common caustic substance was alkaline (106, 58.3%) followed by acidic (47, 25.8%) and other household detergents (28, 15.4%). Vomiting (35.7%), nausea (14.8%) and sore throat (13.1%) were the most common clinical signs. The patients who had endoscopy, the most frequent finding was first-degree damage (58.7%). A 48-year-old man died from intentional hydrochloric acid ingestion. CONCLUSION: Because of the large number of unintentional caustic exposures, parent education is very important to decrease the caustic exposures in children.
Authors: Mircea Chirica; Michael D Kelly; Stefano Siboni; Alberto Aiolfi; Carlo Galdino Riva; Emanuele Asti; Davide Ferrari; Ari Leppäniemi; Richard P G Ten Broek; Pierre Yves Brichon; Yoram Kluger; Gustavo Pereira Fraga; Gil Frey; Nelson Adami Andreollo; Federico Coccolini; Cristina Frattini; Ernest E Moore; Osvaldo Chiara; Salomone Di Saverio; Massimo Sartelli; Dieter Weber; Luca Ansaloni; Walter Biffl; Helene Corte; Imtaz Wani; Gianluca Baiocchi; Pierre Cattan; Fausto Catena; Luigi Bonavina Journal: World J Emerg Surg Date: 2019-05-31 Impact factor: 5.469