Outcomes of the management of corrosive injuries of the upper digestive tract in a tertiary care center

Esophageal stricture is the most common delayed sequelae of aerodigestive tract corrosive injuries. Early endoscopic dilatation is an integral part of corrosive injury management. Self-dilatation of the esophagus is effective in preventing stricture recurrence. In this prospective study, we included patients with corrosive aerodigestive tract injury from January 2009 to December 2020. We analyzed the outcome of the endoscopic dilatation and self-dilatation treatments administered to patients with a corrosive esophageal stricture. Among 295 patients, 164 had an esophageal injury, 73 had esophago-gastric injury, 55 had a gastric injury, and 3 had the pharyngeal injury. Of the 295 patients, 194 (81.85%) underwent dilatation, and 13 patients with diffuse esophageal injury underwent upfront surgery. Successful dilatation was performed in 169 (87.11%) patients. Of the 68 patients undergoing self-dilatation, 63 patients achieved nutritional autonomy by 28 days. Early endoscopic dilatation effectively prevents surgery, and self-dilatation appears promising to prevent recurrent esophageal stricture.