Section:
Artículos originales
Published:
2026-08-31

Characterization of prognostic factors by clinical and endoscopic scale of patients with caustic ingestion at the Hospital del Niño Doctor José Renán Esquivel during the period from January 2009 to December 2020

Jose Daniel Cencion Zapateiro1,
Montserrat Tello1,
Ricardo McCalla1

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.37980/im.journal.rspp.es.20262640

Keywords:

caustic, stricture, alkali, acid, clinical scale, endoscopic scale

Abstract

Introduction: Caustic ingestion is a problem in developing countries because of its potential consequences such as esophageal stricture. Objective: Characterization of prognostic factors using the Drool clinical scale and Zargar endoscopic scale in patients with caustic ingestion at the Hospital del Niño Doctor José R. Esquivel between January 2009 and December 2020. Methods: A retrospective cross-sectional analytical study was carried out in a group of 177 patients from 6 months to 14 years of age where the characterization of prognostic factors was performed using the Drool and Zargar scales. Results: Of 177 patients, 56.50% were male and 43.50% female. The median age was 28 months, the type of caustic mostly ingested was alkali 87.57%. In the evaluation of the DROOL Scale, 20 cases were found with a score ≤4, of which 10 presented complications, mainly esophageal stricture. 20 patients (11.3 %) presented value ≤ 4 on the Drool Scale. When evaluating the Zargar Scale, lesions 2B and 3 were found to be those related to complications. In patients with esophageal stricture, 90% had a value ≤ 4 on the Drool Scale (p < 0.001) and 70% presented on the Zargar Scale with a score 2B-3A (p < 0.001). Conclusions: The Drool and Zargar scales are useful in the evaluation and prognosis of patients with caustic ingestion.

License

Copyright (c) 2026 Infomedic Intl.

Derechos autoriales y de reproducibilidad. La Revista Pediátrica de Panamá es un ente académico, sin fines de lucro, que forma parte de la Sociedad Panameña de Pediatría.  Sus publicaciones son de tipo gratuito, para uso individual y académico. El autor, al publicar en la Revista otorga sus derechos permanente para que su contenido sea editado por la Sociedad y distribuido Infomedic International bajo la Licencia de uso de distribución. Las polítcas de distribución dependerán del tipo de envío seleccionado por el autor.