№ 8Toxicology12 min read
Corrosive poisoning (acids, bases)
1. Big picture
Corrosive poisoning means chemical burn injury caused by ingestion or contact with a strong acid or alkali/base. In Internal Medicine toxicology, the examiner mainly wants four things:
- Recognize airway and perforation danger early.
- Know that oral burns do not reliably predict esophageal/gastric injury.
- Do not “neutralize,” induce vomiting, lavage, or blindly insert a nasogastric tube.
- Use early endoscopy/CT to grade injury and guide management.
The main life-threatening problems are laryngeal edema/asphyxia, esophageal or gastric perforation, mediastinitis, peritonitis, shock, bleeding, and later strictures.
Unlock the rest of this topic
Subscribe to Internal Medicine for $10/month and unlock all 229 topics — full exam-structured notes, the State Exam questions integrated into every topic, and the downloadable Anki deck. Cancel anytime.
- ✓All 229 Internal Medicine topics, exam-structured
- ✓State Exam questions in every topic
- ✓Downloadable Anki deck (.apkg)
- ✓Cancel anytime
Already subscribed? Sign in