Contents

Disclaimer

Oxford University Press makes no representation, express or implied, that the drug dosages in this book are correct. Readers must therefore always check the product information and clinical procedures with the most up to date published product information and data sheets provided by the manufacturers and the most recent codes of conduct and safety regulations. The authors and the publishers do not accept responsibility or legal liability for any errors in the text or for the misuse or misapplication of material in this work. Except where otherwise stated, drug dosages and recommendations are for the non-pregnant adult who is not breastfeeding.

Show Summary Details
Page of

Management of corrosive poisoning 

Management of corrosive poisoning
Chapter:
Management of corrosive poisoning
Author(s):

Ram E. Rajagopalan

DOI:
10.1093/med/9780199600830.003.0329
Page of

PRINTED FROM OXFORD MEDICINE ONLINE (www.oxfordmedicine.com). © Oxford University Press, 2022. All Rights Reserved. Under the terms of the licence agreement, an individual user may print out a PDF of a single chapter of a title in Oxford Medicine Online for personal use (for details see Privacy Policy and Legal Notice).

date: 21 May 2022

Corrosive poisoning, typically with household chemicals, is a common problem in children and adults. As ingestion by adults is often intentional, they are usually associated with larger volumes of strong agents and have the potential to create more severe injury than that observed in the accidental ingestions commonly seen in children. The goal of acute care in these cases is to stabilize acute compromise of haemodynamics and to ensure patency of the injured airway. Blind placement of nasogastric tubes and attempts at dilution or neutralization of the ingested chemical are potentially hazardous and should be avoided. Early identification of oesophageal or gastric perforation by clinical evaluation and radiological testing will lead to early and appropriate surgical interventions for these complications. The primary focus after initial stabilization is to evaluate the extent of gastrointestinal injury by early endoscopy. The application of a standardized score to grade the injury allows risk stratification, the planning of nutritional support and referral for appropriate management of the chronic sequelae of scarring and stenosis of the injured gastrointestinal tract. No specific medical therapy can attenuate the extent of damage acutely nor alter the progression of chronic changes.

Access to the complete content on Oxford Medicine Online requires a subscription or purchase. Public users are able to search the site and view the abstracts for each book and chapter without a subscription.

Please subscribe or login to access full text content.

If you have purchased a print title that contains an access token, please see the token for information about how to register your code.

For questions on access or troubleshooting, please check our FAQs, and if you can't find the answer there, please contact us.