Results of treatment of children with complications after burns of the esophagus from button batteries

Aim. To enhance the treatment outcomes in children with complications following an esophageal burn caused by a disk battery.

Materials and Methods. We analyzed the treatment outcomes of 102 patients suffering from esophageal burns from a disk battery, who were treated at the N.F. Filatov Children’s City Hospital of the Moscow Healthcare Ministry from 2009 to 2021. Children who developed complications (n=57) were divided according to the treatment strategy employed: conservative tactics (n=36, 63.2%) and radical surgery (n=21, 36.8%).

Results and Discussion. The types of surgical interventions carried out for tracheoesophageal fistula (TEF) (n=31) included laparoscopic fundoplication and gastrostomy (38.7%), separation of TEF (41.9%), and tracheal plastic surgery with an esophageal flap and extirpation of the esophagus (19.4%). Assessment of the outcomes of TEF post laparoscopic fundoplication and gastrostomy demonstrated spontaneous closure in 63.6% of the cases. The average time until closure was 5 months. Among children with esophageal stenosis (n=24), esophageal bougienage was performed in 95.8% of the cases. All children identified with esophageal perforation (n=4) were successfully treated conservatively. Tactics for managing laryngeal paresis or paralysis included conservative therapy and observation in 33.3% of cases, tracheostomy in 29.2%, and lateralization procedures in 37.5%.

Conclusion. Conservative tactics demonstrated superior results in all complications, minimizing the number of postoperative complications (16.7%) and ensuring favorable long-term outcomes.

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