Caustic Ingestion: Development and Validation of a Prognostic Score

Management of caustic injury: better to evaluate patient as a “whole” rather than only through a “hole”!

“…Therefore, composite scores incorporating clinical and endoscopic parameters were proposed to improve prognostic evaluation and triage of patients who have ingested a corrosive substance [5]. In this issue of Endoscopy, Tosca et al propose a prognostic score based on analysis of nearly 450 patients prospectively included in derivation and validation cohorts over 22 years [6]. The score incorporates clinical parameters such as chemical nature of corrosive (acid), inflammatory markers (white blood cell count), and systemic involvement (metabolic acidosis indicating transmural involvement), as well as standard endoscopic parameters.…”