[Caustic burns of the esophagus in childhood. Our 14 years' experience].

A 14-years revision (1972-1986) is made of 3,600 children attended to after ingesting some type of caustic agent. Only 81 were admitted to hospital. We found a predominance in the 1-3 year age group. Bleach was the caustic most frequently present but lye accounted for most major lesions. The more relevant symptoms were oropharyngeal lesions (85%), vomiting (26%) and sialorrhea (20%). Oropharyngeal burns was the sign most often found in esophageal lesions (45%). The ingestion of ordinary household bleach did not result in serious esophageal lesions nor posterior complications, and does not require esophagoscopy if no other symptom except vomiting is present. Esophagoscopy is the ideal means for evaluating esophageal lesions, as are esophageal dilatations with Rehbein dilators for stenosis due to scarring. With the use of corticosteroids in the acute phase, there were 8 cases (22%) of esophageal stenosis out of 36 with lesions.