The emergency room, in a hospital, sees a lot of curious cases. Some of them are wilder than our wildest imaginations, according to emergency doctors. However, even for such personnel, some cases stand out. One such case is that of a woman who swallowed 55 batteries! Fortunately, to an extent, they were the small cylindrical ones.
You would think it is some kind of record. Actually, it is a record. On September 15th, 2022, the Irish Medical Journal published a report on this case. According to them, 55 is the highest number of ingested batteries at once, among all reported cases. Makes you wonder whether there was a previous record holder.[1]
The Record Case Of The Ingested Batteries
So who was this woman? As per the Irish Medical Journal Report, the record holder was a considerably elderly woman – 66 years old, to be precise. Dublin’s St. Vincent’s University Hospital had received her. There, an X-Ray showed the doctors the record number of batteries existing in her colon and abdomen.
At first, doctors approached the case conservatively. This means that they would simply wait and watch and see how many, if any, of the batteries are naturally excreted out. During a period of one week, 5 AA batteries came out naturally. During the succeeding 3 weeks, regular X-Rays revealed that the 50 batteries that were still there were not progressing. This is when the woman reported abdominal pain.
At this point, her stomach had distended to the extent that it was hanging over her pubic bone due to the batteries’ collective weight. The surgeons had no other choice but to operate. They performed a minor gastrostomy and removed 46 of the batteries (both AAA and AA) from the woman’s stomach.
The remaining 4 were situated in the patient’s colon. So the surgeons “milked” them into her rectum before removing them using long forceps and an anal retractor. Fortunately, the case ended with a successful recovery without any further events.
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How And Why Did So Many End Up In Her Stomach?
The case may sound laughable, but the reason is far from it. According to the doctors, the woman had ingested the batteries to deliberately harm herself. As per the medical journal, such ingestion is a rare but not unheard of method of committing self-harm.
Worryingly, the journal continues: “Reported cases suggest that severe and fatal battery ingestions are increasing and current paradigms may be inadequate”. At the same time, a lot of the cases reported are of minors accidentally ingesting button batteries.[2]
As such, the woman, in this case, may have been fortunate to receive the proper treatment in time. However, ingesting batteries may lead to severe issues such as “mucosal injury, perforation, [and] obstruction. The potential of cylindrical batteries to result in acute surgical emergencies should not be underestimated.” Long story short – seek immediate medical help if any batteries get ingested.
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Sources
- “Doctors make harrowing find inside woman’s stomach.” Yahoo. Nicole Iliagouvea. September 20, 2022.
- “Management of Cylindrical Battery Ingestion.” Irish Medical Journal. September 15, 2022.
