Corrosive acid ingestion in man - a clinical and endoscopic study

Sixteen patients with corrosive acid ingestion were studied. The majority of patients (n = 10) had ingested sulphuric acid, and three other patients had ingested hydrochloric acid. The extent and severity of upper gastrointestinal tract injury was determined by fibreoptic endoscopy and necropsy. All the patients had oesophageal and gastric involvement but the duodenum was spared in the majority. The injury was not considered as mild (grade I) in any of these patients; five patients having moderate (grade II) and 10 patients having severe (grade III) injury. Complications and mortality occurred only in patients with grade III injury. Feeding jejunostomy for nutritional support was used in five patients (all grade III) with good results.