Full-thickness burns due to contact with gastric acid
Intended for healthcare professionals
Evidence and practice    

Full-thickness burns due to contact with gastric acid

Rob Fenwick Lead advanced clinical practitioner in emergency medicine, Emergency department, Heartlands Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, England
Rebecca Price Advanced clinical practitioner, Emergency department, Heartlands Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, England

This article describes the case of a 33-year-old man with cerebral palsy who sustained a full-thickness burn to his thorax as a result of lying in gastric acid that had leaked from a damaged percutaneous endoscopic gastrostomy feeding tube. The patient required referral to a tertiary burns centre for specialist management. The article highlights the potential harm caused by gastric acid and why some patients may be particularly vulnerable to such injuries.

Emergency Nurse. doi: 10.7748/en.2019.e1941

Peer review

This article has been subject to external double-blind peer review and has been checked for plagiarism using automated software

Correspondence

robfenwickrn@googlemail.com

Conflict of interest

None declared

Fenwick R, Price R (2019) Full-thickness burns due to contact with gastric acid. Emergency Nurse. doi: 10.7748/en.2019.e1941

Published online: 06 June 2019

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