Preview note: different initial treatments to hydrochloric acid burns in experimental model utilized rats

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: chemical burns occur at home or at work, and could be avoided at most with basic care. Acids are responsible for the great part of these burns, and the Chloridric Acid is one of the most common. The adequate and precocious initial treatment of these patients is fundamental to the best final result, as already published in many articles. According to the literature, it is strongly recommended to exposure these victims to fresh water for long time. It is polemic in the literature the use of a basis to neutralize the acid of a burn, because it generates an exothermic reaction, what could make the burn worse. By the way, weak basis generate less thermal energy than strong basis in theses reactions. It is also a chemistry concept that when diluting an acid, this have to be added to a recipient with water; because the opposite, add water to an acid, also generate a strong exothermic reaction. Methods: it was utilized 12 rats, divided into 6 pairs. In each pairs was used a different initial treatment, after 30 seconds of exposure of the animal to 12 molar Chloridric Acid; the proposed treatments: fresh water (1), 1 molar caustic soda (2), 1 molar sodium bicarbonate (3), 1 molar caustic soda and fresh water (4), 1 molar sodium bicarbonate and fresh water (5) and the last pair wore only exposed to 12 molar chloridric acid. The chloridric acid chemical burn was made using a modified method of the standard in literature (Kim J. et al., 1994). Each animal was evaluated through macroscopic (exposure area) and microscopic aspects (depth of the lesion). Results: the rats that were treated with 1 molar caustic soda had great results, keeping the epidermis without major damages. Conclusion: the neutralization of the chloridric acid chemical burn by caustic soda revealed to be an effective initial treatment in this experimental model.