Table of contents
Expand All Topics
Traumatic esophageal injury
Guidelines
Key sources
The following summarized guidelines for the evaluation and management of traumatic esophageal injury are prepared by our editorial team based on guidelines from the World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES 2019).
1
Diagnostic investigations
Physical examination: as per WSES 2019 guidelines, do not rely on physical examination as it is not reliable for early diagnosis of traumatic esophageal injury.
D
More topics in this section
Laboratory studies
CT
Diagnostic procedures
Nonpharmacologic interventions
Indications for non-surgical management
As per WSES 2019 guidelines:
Offer non-surgical management for patients with esophageal perforation if they meet the criteria for non-surgical management:
delay in management of < 24 h
absence of symptoms and signs of sepsis
cervical or thoracic location of the esophageal perforation
contained perforation by surrounding tissues (intramural; minimal peri-esophageal extravasation of contrast material with intra-esophageal drainage; absence of massive pleural contamination)
no preexistent esophageal disease
possibility of close surveillance by expert esophageal team
availability of surgical and radiological skills all day and all night
B
Offer non-surgical management for patient with traumatic esophageal injury only if intense monitoring in an ICU setting, surgical expertise and interventional radiology skills are available all day and all night.
B