injuries poisoning
Caustic Ingestion
Diagnosis of Caustic Ingestion
Endoscopy Because the presence or absence of intraoral burns does not reliably indicate whether the esophagus and stomach are burned, meticulous endoscopy is indicated to check for the presence and severity of esophageal and gastric burns when symptoms or history suggests more than trivial ingestion. Endoscopy does not need to be done immediately; the patient should be stabilized before being considered for endoscopy. Chest x-rays have limited sensitivity for evaluation of esophageal perforation, so a CT scan of the chest and abdomen should be done if perforation is suspected. 