A 4-year single-center experience in the management of esophageal perforation.

BACKGROUND: Esophageal perforation (EP) is a lethal surgical emergency that needs to be diagnosed and treated immediately. Diagnosis and treatment options for EP are limited due to its lower incidence. There are scoring systems proposed for this purpose; however, they cannot be applied to every patient. The recent trend in the treatment of EP is toward the non-operative approach over the surgical treatment methods. The purpose of the present study was to evaluate our treatment methods and outcomes in patients with EP.

METHODS: Thirteen patients with EP treated in our clinic between 2013 and 2017 were retrospectively reviewed. The Pittsburgh Perforation Severity Score (PSS), systemic condition status, and Clavien-Dindo Classification (CDC) score were assessed, and treatment methods were reviewed. Their effects on morbidity and mortality were examined using Fisher's exact test and biserial correlation test.

RESULTS: A total of 13 patients (six males and seven females; median age 64 years) were included in the study. Ten patients were managed non-operative, and three were treated surgically. Of the 10 patients, two had additional surgery after non-operative management. The PSS, systemic condition status, CDC score, duration of stay in the hospital, time to diagnosis, presence of hypotension, and being in shock were strongly correlated with mortality (p<0.05). The PSS, CDC score, and stay in the intensive care unit were strongly correlated with morbidity (p<0.05). The comparison between the non-operative and operative groups did not yield a statistically significant difference in mortality and morbidity.

CONCLUSION: Even if the scoring systems help to understand the severity of the condition, they are inadequate to determine the treatment option. Early diagnosis and treatment are the most important steps in management. Operative and non-operative treatment options are not superior to each other, but their complementary use will be more beneficial for the patients.