CASE REPORT
Acute mercuric chloride poisoning at a potentially lethal dose ended with survival: symptoms, concentration in cerebrospinal fluid, treatment
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1
Central Clinical Hospital of the Medical University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland
(Clinic of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care)
2
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland
(Centre for Physicians Training in Public Health)
3
Nofer Institute of Occupational Medicine, Łódź, Poland
(Department of Biological and Environmental Monitoring)
4
Medical University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland
(Department of Laboratory Diagnostics and Clinical Biochemistry)
5
Central Clinical Hospital of Medical University of Łódź, Łódź, Poland
(Medical Diagnostic Laboratory)
Online publication date: 2023-09-26
Corresponding author
Anna Krakowiak
Central Clinical Hospital of the Medical University of Łódź, Clinic of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Pomorska 251,
92-213 Łódź, Poland
Int J Occup Med Environ Health. 2023;36(5):685-92
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ABSTRACT
This study aims to present a case of acute mercuric chloride poisoning at a potentially lethal dose treated with the antidote – 2,3-dimercapto-
1-propanesulfonic acid (DMPS) and continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) combined with CytoSorb. A 21-year-old woman was admitted
to a hospital with abdominal pain, vomiting, and suspected gastrointestinal bleeding after taking 5000 mg of mercuric chloride for suicidal
purposes. Due to the patient deteriorating general condition and multiple organ damage, on the third day she was transported to the Clinic of
Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care (CAaIC), Łódź, Poland. Laboratory tests confirmed features of acute kidney injury and high mercury levels in
the blood (1051 μg/l) and urine (22 960 μg/l) – DMPS therapy and CRRT combined with CytoSorb were instituted. Due to nervous system complaints
(headache, dizziness), a lumbosacral puncture was performed – the mercury concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was 5.45 μg/l.
During a colonoscopy, significant diagnostic abnormalities revealed features of colonic mucosal necrosis. The treatment resulted in a decrease in
subjective complaints, decreased mercury levels in biological material, and improved parenchymal organ function. On the 15th day of therapy,
the patient was transferred to the primary care center for further treatment. The case confirms the possibility of improvement of patient condition
following ingestion of a potentially lethal dose (5 g) as a result of the initiation of appropriate therapy even on the third day. The presence of mercury
in CSF confirms that inorganic mercury compounds (mercuric chloride) can pass through the blood-brain barrier after oral ingestion. Int J Occup
Med Environ Health. 2023;36(5):685–92