Introduction: Acute corrosive poisoning is considered a major problem
in clinical toxicology all over the world including Egypt as a result of their
availability and easy accessibility. Aim of the work: To study and evaluate
the hazardous effects of corrosive substances through retrospective study of
the acute corrosive poisoning. Materials and methods: All acute corrosive
poisoned patients who are admitted to Benha Poisoning Control Unit, Benha
University Hospitals, Egypt, from 1st February 2018 to 31th January 2019 were
included in the study. All demographic and clinical data were collected and
analyzed. Results: Out of 2570 intoxicated cases, 245 cases (9.5%) were due
to corrosives exposure, 67.8% were below the age of ten, 61.2% were males
, 77.1% were unmarried and 58% came from rural areas. The majority of
intoxication were during summer months (48.2%), and 54.3% of intoxicated
patients were at home. The way of intoxication was mainly accidental
(82.9%) and by oral way (90.6%). The most common causative agent was
sodium hypochlorite (60.8%), followed by phenol (23.7%) and caustic potash
(Potassium hydroxide) (15.5%). Commonly observed symptoms were GIT
with respiratory manifestations (58.8%), respiratory manifestations (32.7%),
dermal manifestation (7.3%) and CNS manifestations (0.8%). About 52% of
patients were treated symptomatically: 32.6 % with oxygen, 10.2% treated by
dermal decontamination and 4.5% with GIT decontamination. Most of cases
(78 %) were improved and discharged, 18.4% referred for endoscopy and 3.7%
discharged against medical advice. Conclusion: Acute corrosives poisoning
Ali NEM and Abo El Wafa SM 778
Introduction
Worldwide acute poisoning is
considered as one of the most important
causes of admission to Poison Control
Center. Knowing the epidemiological
characters is very important in putting
the successful preventive measures and
has great importance in prognosis of the
outcome of the poisoning (Alazab et al.,
2013). Also, poisoning needs the use
of hospitals and poor health resources
in developing countries which affects
their economy; and can be decreased by
early diagnosis and treatment (Ahuja et
al., 2015).
Acute corrosive toxicity is considered
a serious problem worldwide. Every
year about five thousand to fifteen
thousand cases of corrosive poisoning
are registered in the USA (Park, 2014;
Rollin et al., 2015). In Egypt, it had
been reported that corrosives were
responsible for about 58% of toxicity
in children in the Middle Delta Poison
Control Center (Sobeeh et al., 2018).
Also Kandeel and EL-Farouny (2017)
found that 30% of cases of toxicity were
due to corrosives in Menoufia Poison
Control Center (MPCC) During the Year
(2016).Corrosives are defined as any
substances which can cause chemical
destruction once they come in contact
with body tissues like eye, skin, GIT or
respiratory system (Radenkova-Saeva
et al., 2016). Acids corrosives, change
the tissue proteins to acid proteins and
hemoglobin to hematine resulting in
coagulative necrosis while alkalis,
change the tissue proteins to proteinates
and fats to soaps, leading to penetration
and liquefactive necrosis (Chen et al.,
2018). The degree of corrosive injuries
depends on the time of contact, type,
concentration or amount of the corrosive
material used (Vezakis et al., 2016).
Corrosive exposure leads to
dermal manifestations as intense pain,
blistering with ulceration in tissues they
come in contact with while inhalation
may cause inflammation in the throat,
was mainly accidental toxic issue in Egypt among rural male children below
10 years old. Sodium hypochlorite found to be the commonest corrosive
agent used and commonly observed symptoms were GIT with respiratory
manifestations most of patients were treated symptomatically and most of
them improved and discharged.
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