Conservative management of severe caustic injuries during acute phase leads to superior long-term nutritional and quality of life (QoL) outcome.

PURPOSE: Best clinical management of severe caustic injury is still a subject of debate. Most surgical teams consider severe caustic injury as an indication for emergency surgery. But, under certain circumstances, conservative management is feasible, avoids the need for gastrectomy, and has a low mortality rate. Postponed reconstructive surgery is usually performed several months after caustic ingestion to restore intestinal continuity or to treat stricture sequelae. This study aimed to investigate long-term nutritional and quality of life (QoL) outcomes after reconstructive surgery for high-grade esophageal and gastric caustic injury.

METHODS: Twenty-one patients were assessed for biological and nutritional parameters, physical findings, and quality of life surveys at least 25 months after reconstructive surgery among patients who have required emergency surgery (n = 10) and patients who did not undergo emergency surgery (n = 11).

RESULTS: After median follow-up of 74 months (after caustic ingestion) and 67 months (after reconstructive surgery), patients who avoided emergency surgery experienced faster oral diet resumption (49 vs. 157 days, p = 0.004), less weight loss (0.3 vs. 20 kg, p = 0.002), greater body fat percentage (22 vs. 18 %, p = 0.046), better nutritional and physical status (SF12 PCS 51 vs. 43, p = 0.036), and less trouble eating (EORTC QLQ-OG 25 31 vs. 56, p = 0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: Our study is the first to evaluate long-term nutritional and QoL outcomes, following severe caustic injury. It demonstrates better long-term nutritional outcomes and QoL in patients suitable for initial conservative management. These results support full functional recuperation of spared organs, even severely burned. In the absence of clinical or biological signs necessitating immediate surgery, conservative management should be advocated.