Corrosive Injuries Admitted to Hospitals of Rasht city during 2002-2009

Background: Caustics produce one of the most serious complications of poisonings. This research was aimed to study demographical, clinical and endoscopic findings in patients with corrosive injury. Methods: In a retrospective survey, all records of the patients who had been admitted to Razi and 17th Shahrivar hospital in Rasht city due to the ingestion of caustic agents during 2002-2009 and endoscopy had been performed for them in the first 24 hours after ingestion were studied. The information was analyzed by descriptive method using SPSS 16 software. Results: Among 258 patients in Razi Hospital, 174 (67.4%) were female with mean age of 29.33 years old. 127 patients (61.1%) had intentional ingestion. 208 patients were finally studied. Among them, 175 patients were hospitalized for 2 days (average 1.73 days). Among 45 patients of 17th Shahrivar hospital, 24 (53.3%) were female. All of them had accidental ingestion. The most frequent site of injury in adults was esophagus (37.2%) and in pediatric population was the mouth (66.6%). Of all pediatric patients, one case had grade IIb endoscopic injury. Among cases who underwent endoscopy (in adults),20.8%, 16.7%, 41.6%, 16.7%,4.2% had grade zero, I, IIa, IIb and III injury, respectively .In all cases, bleaches were the most frequent consumed material. Conclusion: In both studied groups, female patients were more affected by corrosive agents and in adults, intentional ingestion was approximately 1.5 times more frequent than the accidental cases while all of pediatric patients had accidental poisoning. Most of the lesions had been received only medical treatment without any surgical interventions.