Management of esophageal injuries secondary to trauma

Injury. 2017 Aug;48(8):1735-1742. doi: 10.1016/j.injury.2017.06.012. Epub 2017 Jun 19.

Abstract

Traumatic esophageal injuries occur less than 10% of the time in the setting of blunt or penetrating trauma. The purpose of this literature review is to provide an update on the most recent changes involving the diagnosis and treatment of esophageal injuries. A literature search was conducted using PubMed, to identify articles written in English language with the terms "non- iatrogenic", "esophageal", "trauma", "diagnosis", "management", and "prognosis". Case reports and articles involving non-traumatic esophageal perforations were excluded. Fifty pertinent articles in English language from 1947 to 2015 were selected for review. Based on the review of all articles, we designed a diagnostic and therapeutic algorithm to facilitate the diagnosis and management of the traumatic esophageal injury.

Keywords: Esophageal injuries; Management; Morbidity; Mortality; Treatment.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Diagnostic Imaging
  • Esophagus / diagnostic imaging
  • Esophagus / injuries*
  • Humans
  • Survival Rate
  • Thoracic Injuries / diagnosis*
  • Thoracic Injuries / therapy
  • Trauma Severity Indices
  • Wounds, Nonpenetrating / diagnosis*
  • Wounds, Nonpenetrating / therapy
  • Wounds, Penetrating / diagnosis*
  • Wounds, Penetrating / therapy