[Esogastric lesions caused by ingestion of liquid chlorine bleach in adults].

A retrospective study of 193 adult patients who ingested liquid chlorine bleach is reported. This figure represents 37 p. 100 of caustic product ingestions treated in the authors' hospital unit, these being attempted suicides in 85 p. 100 of the cases. All patients had oesophagogastric fibroscopy on the day of the ingestion: serious, grade 2 or 3 lesions were present in 38 p. 100 of the cases. Emergency surgery was necessary in 10 patients for a complication that occurred within the first 3 weeks, and after 2 months in 6 patients to treat a digestive tract stenosis. Compared with the other caustic products, liquid chlorine bleach predominantly creates gastric lesions and may produce digestive tract perforations by secondary necrosis which occurs after a free interval ranging from 2 to 26 days.