Long-term dilatation of caustic strictures of the oesophagus

Abstract

Caustic strictures of the oesophagus (CSO) in children are managed in different ways. Our study looks into the results of long-term dilatation of such strictures. Of 109 children admitted to our hospital with caustic ingestion, 10 developed strictures. The dilatations were carried out for periods varying from 9 months to 4 years. While 3 patients needed surgical treatment, 7 did not and did well. The oesophageal perforation rate with dilatations was only 0.47% (2 perforations from a total of 424 dilatations). Long-term dilatations are successful in managing a majority of CSO in children and are associated with minimal complications.

Long-term management of corrosive esophageal stricture with balloon dilation in children

“…It usually occurs during the first dilation session. It occurred in 0.47-31% of all balloon dilation sessions in previous studies [2,7,9]. Also it was reported to occur in 20-45% of pediatric cases treated with balloon dilation [2,7,9].…”

“…This may be related to corrosive strictures being commonly longer, tighter, more eccentric, and multiple than noncorrosive strictures [8,13]. Esophageal strictures require between 6 months and 3 years for stabilization [2,18,19]. This period is also known as remodeling time.…”

“…The most common cause of benign esophageal stricture is ingestion of caustic substance [1][2][3]. It is still an important social and medical problem in developing countries.…”

A different aspect of corrosive ingestion in children: Socio-demographic characteristics and effect of family functioning

“…Corrosive ingestion is a great problem, which is thoroughly investigated in terms of its results and treatment modalities [3,[6][7][8][9]. In adults and adolescents corrosives are usually taken for suicidal intention on the other hand in small children they are ingested accidentally [15][16][17].…”

“…As a result many children are hospitalized, some may die due to hazards of corrosive ingestion and some suffer lifetime. Although corrosive ingestion is examined in detail in terms of its physical consequences and treatment, it is not thoroughly evaluated regarding the socio-demographic facts, and no studies are present in terms of attitude, behavior and knowledge of the mothers and the family functions [6][7][8][9][10]. The authors aimed to investigate the socio-demographic data and family functions, behavior, attitude and knowledge of the mothers whose children ingested corrosive materials in order to aid in taking steps in its prevention.…”