Caustic and foreign body ingestions in children: a practical approach

Abstract

Caustic and foreign body ingestions represent a fairly frequent occurrence in children and a major concern both for families and clinicians, as it can range from non-significant to life-threatening events, leading to severe sequelae. Despite the efforts across the years to ensure safer environment and child-proof products packages, the number of new cases remains high.Most cases occur in developing countries, where preschoolers and children are less supervised, and storage of household products is often inadequate. The purpose of this paper is to perform an updated overview of the correct approach to a child with caustic or foreign body ingestion, providing an immediate practical application for the physicians.

Keywords

• “caustic ingestion”, “children”, “corrosive ingestion”, “esophageal strictures”