Necrosis of the stomach secondary to ingestion of corrosive agents: report of three cases requiring total gastrectomy.

The ingestion of corrosive agents frequently produces adverse effect on the esophagus and the stomach or on both. Agents of alkaline pH usually result in esophageal injury, and agents of acid pH often cause gastric damage. Squamous epithelium lining the esophagus is sensitive to alkaline agents; however, alkaline agents upon reaching the stomach are rapidly neutralized by the gastric acidity of the stomach. Conversely, esophageal mucosa is resistant to acid agents, which in hun produce severe inflammatory changes throughout the gastric wan. Corrosive agents regardless of their pH acidity or a h h i t y can be destructive in some instances to both esophagus and stomach. Rarely does one note necrosis of the entire stomach secondary to the swallowing of corrosive agents. We present three such cases requiring total gastrectomy, seen by us over a one-month period at Cook County Hospital, Chicago.