Corrosive injury of the trachea in children

Nonmalignant tracheal stenosis: presentation, management and outcome in limited resources setting

BACKGROUND

Nonmalignant tracheal stenosis is a potentially life threatening conditions that develops as fibrotic healing from intubation, tracheostomy, caustic injury or chronic infection processes like tuberculosis. This is a report of our experience of its management with tracheostomy, rigid bronchoscopic dilation and surgery.

METHODS

Retrospective study design was used. 60 patients treated over five years period were included.

RESULTS

Mean age was 26.9 ± 10.0 with a range of 10-55 years. Majority (56 patients (93.3%)) had previous intubation as a cause for tracheal stenosis. Mean duration of intubation was 13.8 days (range from 2 to 27 days). All patients were evaluated with neck and chest CT (Computed Tomography) scan. Majority of the stenosis was in the upper third trachea - 81.7%. Mean internal diameter of narrowest part was 5.5 ± 2.5 mm, and mean length of stenosed segment was 16.9 ± 8 mm. Tracheal resection and end to end anastomosis (REEA) was the most common initial modality of treatment followed by bronchoscopic dilation (BD) and primary tracheostomy (PT). The narrowest internal diameter of the tracheal stenosis (TS) for each initial treatment category group was 4.4 ± 4.3 mm, 5.1 ± 1.9 mm and 6.7 ± 1.6 mm for PT, tracheal REEA and BD respectively, and the mean difference achieved statistical significance, F (10,49) = 2.25, p = 0.03. Surgery resulted in better outcome than bronchoscopic dilation (89.1% vs. 75.0%).

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

Nonmalignant tracheal stenosis mostly develops after previous prolonged intubation. Surgical resection and anastomosis offers the best outcome.

Developing the minimum data set of the corrosive ingestion registry system in Iran

Background

Corrosive ingestion is still a major health problem, and its outcomes are often unpredicted. The implementation of a registry system for poisoning with corrosive substances may improve the quality of patient care and might be useful to manage this type of poisoning and its complications. Therefore, our study aimed to establish a minimum data set (MDS) for corrosive ingestion.

Methods

This was an applied study performed in 2022. First, a literature review was conducted to identify the potential data items to be included in the corrosive ingestion MDS. Then, a two-round Delphi survey was performed to attain an agreement among experts regarding the MDS content, and an additional Delphi step was used for confirming the final MDS by calculating the individual item content validity index (CVI) and content validity ratio (CVR) and by using other statistical tests.

Results

After the literature review, 285 data items were collected and sent to a two-round Delphi survey in the form of a questionnaire. In total, 75 experts participated in the Delphi stage, CVI, kappa, and CVR calculation. Finally, the MDS of the corrosive ingestion registry system was identified in two administrative and clinical sections with 21 and 152 data items, respectively.

Conclusions

The development of an MDS, as the first and most important step towards developing the corrosive ingestion registry, can become a standard basis for data collection, reporting, and analysis of corrosive ingestion. We hope this MDS will facilitate epidemiological surveys and assist policymakers by providing higher quality data capture to guide clinical practice and improve patient-centered outcomes.

Koroziv Madde Alımı Olan Çocukların Uzun Dönem Akciğer Kapasitelerinin Spirometri ile Değerlendirilmesi

Amaç: Bu çalışmada korozif madde alımı sonucu özofagus striktürü gelişen ve mükerrer defa özofagus dilatasyonu işlemi yapılan hastaların uzun dönem akciğer durumlarının spirometri ile değerlendirilmesi amaçlanmıştır. Yöntem: Ocak 2014– Mayıs 2021 tarihleri arasında merkezimize KMA nedeniyle başvuran hastalar retrospektif olarak incelendi. Hastalar; Group 1: Kontrol grubu (n=23) Group 2: Korozif madde alımı sonrası dilatasyon işlemine ihtiyacı olmayan ve kür sağlanmış hastalar (n=9) Grup 3: Korozif madde alımına bağlı özofagus striktürü gelişen ve genel anestezi altında dilatsyon işlemi uygulanan hastalar (n=9) olarak üç gruba ayrıldı. Değerlendirme için; 1. Saniyedeki zorlu ekspiratuar akım hızı (FEV1), zorlu vital kapasite (FVC), FEV1/FVC ve zorlu ekspirasyon ortası akım hızı (FEF 25-75) parametreleri kaydedildi. Bulgular: Yapılan istatistik analizi sonuçlarına göre FEV1, FVC ve FEF 25-75 gibi değerlerin üzerinde dilatasyon işleminin etkisi incelendiğinde Grup 1-2 için FEV1 (p=0,02) ve FVC (p =0,01) değerleri arasındaki fark istatistiksel olarak anlamı, grup1-3 ve grup 2-3 arasında anlamsız (p>0,05) saptandı. FEV1/FVC (p>0,05) ve FEF 25-75 (p>0,05) arasında hiçbir grupta anlamlı fark saptanmadı. Sonuç: Hastalarımızın spirometre ile değerlendirilen akciğer kapasitelerinde uzun dönem olumsuz bir etkilenme tespit edilememiştir.

Corrosive upper gastrointestinal strictures in children: Difficulties and dilemmas

Children constitute 80% of all corrosive ingestion cases. The majority of this burden is contributed by developing countries. Accidental ingestion is common in younger children (< 5 years) while suicidal ingestion is more common in adolescents. The severity of injury depends on nature of corrosive (alkali or acid), pH, amount of ingestion and site of exposure. There are multiple doubts and dilemmas which exist in management of both acute ingestion and chronic complications. Acute ingestion leads to skin, respiratory tract or upper gastrointestinal damage which may range from trivial to life threatening complications. Esophagogastroduodenoscopy is an important early investigation to decide for further course of management. The use of steroids for prevention of stricture is a debatable issue. Upper gastrointestinal stricture is a common long-term sequelae of severe corrosive injury which usually develops after three weeks of ingestion. The cornerstone of management of esophageal strictures is endoscopic bougie or balloon dilatations. In case of resistant strictures, newer adjunctive therapies like intralesional steroids, mitomycin and stents can be utilized along with endoscopic dilatation. Surgery is the final resort for strictures resistant to endoscopic dilatations and adjunctive therapies. There is no consensus on best esophageal replacement conduit. Pyloric strictures require balloon dilatation , failure of which requires surgery. Patients with post-corrosive strictures should be kept in long term follow-up due to significantly increased risk of carcinoma. Despite all the endoscopic and surgical options available, management of corrosive stricture in children is a daunting task due to high chances of recurrence, perforation and complications related to poor nutrition and surgery.

Surgical management of esophageal stenosis due to ingestion of corrosive substances

BACKGROUND

Corrosive ingestion is a significant challenge for healthcare systems. Limited data are available regarding the best treatments, and there remains a lack of consensus about the optimal surgical approach and its outcomes. This study aims to review the current literature and show a single institution's experience regarding the surgical treatment of esophageal stenosis due to corrosive substance ingestion.

METHODS

A retrospective review that accounted for demographics, psychiatric profiles, surgical procedures, and outcomes was performed. A systematic review of the literature was performed using PubMed.

RESULTS

In total, 27 surgical procedures for esophageal stenosis due to corrosive substance ingestion were performed from 2010 to 2019. Depression and drug abuse were diagnosed in 30% and 22% of the included patients, respectively. Esophagectomies and esophageal bypasses were performed in 13 and 14 patients, respectively. No 30-day mortality was recorded.

CONCLUSION

Surgical intervention either by esophagectomy or esophageal bypass results in durable relief from dysphagia. However, successful clinical outcomes depend on a high-quality multidisciplinary network of esophageal and thoracic surgeons, intensivists, psychologists, psychiatrists, and nutritional teams.

Case report of tracheobronchial injuries after acid ingestion: CT findings with serial follow-up: Airway complication after acid ingestion

RATIONALE

Tracheobronchial injury from acid ingestion is a less reported clinical presentation than injury of the gastrointestinal tract, but it can occur due to direct exposure from acid aspiration and cause fatal complications.

PATIENT CONCERNS

A 43-year-old man presented to the emergency department after ingesting nitric acid complaining of chest pain and dyspnea.

DIAGNOSES

The initial chest computed tomography (CT) images revealed an acute lung injury related to acid aspiration. The follow-up chest CT showed acute and late tracheobronchial injures.

INTERVENTIONS

Bronchoscopy showed deep caustic airway injuries consisting of hemorrhage, sloughing of the mucosa, and ulceration of the trachea and left-side bronchial tree.

OUTCOMES

Progressive narrowing of the left main bronchus with total collapse of the left lung occurred as a late complication of acid ingestion.

LESSONS

Tracheobronchial injury should be considered in cases of aspiration pneumonia after acid ingestion; chest CT can be used to detect and assess acute and late complications of tracheobronchial injuries.