Citation

Fenwick R, Price R. Emerg. Nurse 2019; ePub(ePub): ePub.

Affiliation

Emergency department, Heartlands Hospital, University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust, England.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, RCN Publishing)

DOI

10.7748/en.2019.e1941

PMID

31468791

Abstract

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.

© 2019 RCN Publishing Company Ltd. All rights reserved. Not to be copied, transmitted or recorded in any way, in whole or part, without prior permission of the publishers.

Language: en

Keywords

acidic burns; burns; gastrostomy; nutrition; skin