Predictability of outcome of caustic ingestion by esophagogastroduodenoscopy in children

AIM： To assess the necessity of esophagogastroduodenoscopy （EGD） to predict the outcome of caustic ingestion in children. METHODS： The study included 206 children who underwent EGD because of ingestion of caustic substances between January 2005 and August 2010. Retrospective analysis of data of the patients was performed. RESULTS： The male/female ratio was 1.6 and mean age was 38.1 ± 28.8 mo. The caustic substances were acidic in 72 （34.9%） cases, alkaline in 56 （27.2%）, liquid household bleach in 62 （30.1%）, and unknown in 16 （7.8%）. Fifty-seven （27.7%） patients were symptom-free. Significant clinical findings were observed in 149 （72.3%） patients. Upper gastrointestinal endoscopy findings of esophageal injury were grade 0 in 86 （41.7%） patients, grade 1 in 49 （23.8%）, grade 2a in 42 （20.4%）, grade 2b in 28 （13.6%）, and grade 3a in 1 （0.5%） patient. 35 patients with grade 2a, 2b, and 3a injuries underwent esophageal dilation at second week of ingestion. Esophageal stricture, which necessitated a regular dilation program developed in 13 of the aforementioned 35 patients. There is no statistically significant difference in the rate of development of esophageal stricture between the patients who ingested acidic （15.3%） and alkaline （8.9%） substances （P = 0.32）. Severe gastric injury was detected in 38 （18.5%） patients. The rate of development of gastric injury was significantly higher in the acidic group （14%） than in the alkaline group （2.9%） （P = 0.001）. Out of 149 patients with clinical findings, 49 （32.9%） patients had no esophageal injury and 117 （78.5%） patients had no gastric lesion. Esophageal and severe gastric injuries were detected in 20 （35.1%） and 8 （14%） of patients with no clinical findings respectively. Pyloric stenosis developed in 6 patients. Pyloric obstruction improved with balloon dilation in 2 patients. Mean hospitalization time were 1.2 ± 0.5 d for grade 0 and 2.3 ± 5 d for grade 1 and 6.3 ± 6.2 d for grade 2a and 15.8 ± 18.6 d for grade 2b. It was significantly longer for patients with grade 2a and 2b injuries （P = 0.000）. CONCLUSION： Endoscopy is an effective technique for determining the presence of esophageal and gastric damage and to avoid unnecessary treatment in patients with no or mild injury.