MedSchoolSOS
Reading width
№ 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:

  1. Recognize airway and perforation danger early.
  2. Know that oral burns do not reliably predict esophageal/gastric injury.
  3. Do not “neutralize,” induce vomiting, lavage, or blindly insert a nasogastric tube.
  4. 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.

Public preview

Unlock this Internal Medicine topic

Choose monthly or annual access only when those offers are supplied by the catalog.

Log in to continue
Access covers all 237 current Internal Medicine topics, dedicated question views where source material supports them, and the available Anki study deck. Subject access is $9.99/month; a $39.99 annual plan is coming soon.

A recurring monthly subscription at $9.99/subject, renews until you cancel. By subscribing you agree to our Terms and Refund Policy, ask us to start access immediately, and accept that you lose your 14-day right of withdrawal once access begins.

Anki deck locked

Unlock the subject to access its study deck.