TITLE:
A Rare Cause of Chest Pain: Disseminated Elemental Mercury Microthromboembolism
AUTHORS:
Brandon Allen, Bobby Desai, Lars K. Beattie
KEYWORDS:
Mercury Toxicity, Chest Pain, Microthromboembolism
JOURNAL NAME:
Case Reports in Clinical Medicine,
Vol.5 No.1,
January
22,
2016
ABSTRACT: Background: The clinical manifestations of mercury poisoning vary based on chemical form, dose, and route of administration. In the medical field, many of the cases of mercury exposure have been in mining agriculture, or chemical industrial workers via inhalation. Aim: To discuss the diagnosis of parenteral mercury poisoning with radiographic identification and potential sequelae. Case Presentation: We present the case of a young male with a chief complaint of chest pain and intravenous mercury administration found to be intentional as a suicide attempt. The chest radiographs lead to a wide differential diagnosis in a hemodynamically stable patient. Conclusion: While ingestion rarely causes toxicity due to the poor absorption of mercury through the gastrointestinal tract, intravenous elemental mercury can range from producing minimal symptoms to being severely toxic.