Broken thermometer in hand: mercury elevation caused by improper debridement

Abstract

Background

Mercury exposure from broken thermometers is still common in China.

Case report

Here, we report a 2-year-old girl with elevated mercury concentrations in her blood and urine due to improper debridement after pricked by a broken thermometer. She underwent the first debridement at a local hospital, but radiographs showed a dot-like mercury deposit turned into multiple dispersed beads in her wrist tissue. Although the patient had no signs or symptoms of mercury poisoning, her blood and urinary mercury concentrations were significantly elevated. Several radio-opaque densities remained in her hand until a second debridement. At 2 years follow-up, her mercury concentrations in blood and urine and her hand radiograph were normal.

Conclusions

Careful debridement after injury by broken thermometer is important in order to remove mercury in tissues and to prevent its dispersion and further absorption.

Keywords:

• Mercury
• debridement
• thermometer
• case report

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This article was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant NO. 81773373)