Stars in Abdomen.

Stars in Abdomen. J Assoc Physicians India. 2018 Jan;66(1):83 Authors: Kumar R, Bhushan D, Kumar M Abstract A 24-year-old male who presented to our emergency department with the history of having ingested mercury due to accidental breakage of the tip of mercury thermometer. He had 3 bouts of vomiting following ingestion; however, mercury beads were not seen in the vomitus. On admission, the patient was clinically stable, and his physical and systemic examinations were unremarkable. His routine investigations which included complete blood count, liver function test, kidney function tests, coagulation profiles, blood glucose, and electrocardiogram were normal. A chest x-ray revealed no evidence of inhaled mercury in the respiratory tract. His plain abdominal x-ray revealed scattered beads of mercury throughout the small intestine (Figure 1a). A repeat x-ray on day-2 revealed confinement of most of the mercury beads in the region of right hemicolon (Figure 1b), while x-ray on day 4 revealed near complete disappearance of mercury beads (Figure 1c). Following hospitalization, patient did not show any untoward symptoms or complications, and he remained well till discharge. Mercury is the only metal that is liquid at room temperature. The likelihood of mercury intoxication varies according to the type of mercury, type of exposure, and individual sensitivity. Simple elemental mercury in liquid form is not poisonous.1,2 Because it is not abso...
Source: Journal of the Association of Physicians of India - Category: General Medicine Tags: J Assoc Physicians India Source Type: research