Salvage multivisceral abdominal surgery after caustic ingestion: Case report

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Caustic ingestion represents a drama for patients and doctors.

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Emergency treatment is hard and needs experienced team.

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Despite is mainly related to suicide attempt our goal is to guarantee the patient’s survival.

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This report represents a prompt management with II step reconstruction.

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Multi-disciplinary approach with high competency represents the only possibility to manage a so complex situation.

Introduction

Ingestion of caustic substances is a life-threatening medical emergency with high morbidity and mortality rate.

Case report

We present a case report of young patient who presents to our department secondary to ingestion of caustic substances was submitted to multi-visceral resection surgery having saved his life after a long and complex multidisciplinary management.

Conclusion

An aggressive surgical approach allows successful initial treatment of extended caustic injuries. Early surgical treatment is essential to improve the prognosis in these patients and refer the patient to large and experienced hospital represents the main goal to guarantee a surviving chance.

Evaluation of severe caustic gastritis by computed tomography and its impact on management

INTRODUCTION

Serious caustic burns of the stomach that present with no clinico-biological severity criteria (CBSC) can be treated conservatively. However, even if there are no CBSC at admission, 20% of patients still require delayed emergency surgery for peritonitis due to gastric perforation thus showing the limitations of this strategy in the diagnosis of irreversible gastric necrosis lesions. The aim of this study was to identify reliable computed tomography (CT) signs of irreversible gastric necrosis in patients with stage 3 endoscopic lesions.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

In a prospective study from March 2014 to January 2017, thoraco-abdomino-pelvic CT scan was performed in 30 consecutive patients with stage 3 endoscopic gastric lesions. The CT results were concealed from the clinicians and compared to CBSC results.

RESULTS

Twenty patients were treated conservatively and ten patients were operated on. Seventy percent of the patients underwent urgent delayed surgery for symptoms that developed late but before alterations in the CBSC. The CT scan showed a perfusion defect (PD) of gastric mucosal enhancement in all patients operated on for gastrointestinal distress, and could have provided an early diagnosis of irreversible gastric necrosis.

CONCLUSION

CT was a more effective diagnostic tool for the diagnosis of irreversible gastric necrosis following caustic ingestion than a strategy based on digestive endoscopy and the use of CBSC. CT could eventually replace gastrointestinal endoscopy in the emergency evaluation of gastroesophageal caustic burns.

Foreign bodies and caustic lesions

Foreign body ingestions, food bolus impactions, and caustic agent injuries are frequent but specific situations. Although most foreign bodies will naturally pass through the digestive tract, practitioners should recognize specific situations were endoscopic management is required. In such cases, timing and adequate equipment are critical. Endoscopic treatment is successful in about 95% of patients. Severe complications (including oesophageal perforations) are rare. Underlying diseases (including eosinophilic oesophagitis) must be investigated after food bolus impaction. Accidental or suicidal ingestion of corrosive agents may result in severe upper gastrointestinal tract injuries requiring a multidisciplinary approach including gastroenterologists, surgeons, otorhynolaryngologists, anaesthesiologists and psychiatrists. Treatment includes conservative management of patients with mild injuries, while patients with severe injuries undergo emergency surgical exploration. At distance of the ingestion episode, oesophageal reconstruction is required in patients who underwent oesophageal resection and in patients who developed oesophageal strictures that failed dilatation.