They were ingested in an act of self-harm.
Doctors at the St. Vincent University in Dublin removed over 50 batteries from the gut and stomach of an elderly woman after an X-ray revealed many batteries in her abdomen,Ingested batteries are not a novel presentation for doctors as they frequently encounter such events in children. When a child eats
, they usually pass through the body without causing damage. However, when they get stuck in the throat, the resulting injuries can be severe and even fatal.The saliva in the throat can jump-start an electric current in the throat, which can start a chemical reaction between the trapped batteries that can end up burning the esophagus, severe tissue damage and bleeding.In this case, the 66-year-old woman had ingested the batteries deliberately as an act of 'self-harm'.
The doctors first took a conservative approach to see if the batteries could pass through the GI tract without any intervention from their end. They observed her for a week, during which the patient passed five AA batteries. However, three weeks later, the vast majority of the batteries had failed to continue progressing through the GI tract, and the patient began experiencing abdominal pain.
A final X-ray was taken again to confirm that the GI tract was clear of any batteries and the patient has now fully recovered, Live Science said in its report. "The deliberate ingestion of multiple large AA batteries as a form of deliberate self-harm is an unusual presentation," the doctors wrote in their report. "To the best of our knowledge, this case represents the highest reported number of batteries ingested at a single point in time".
Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
The Unfortunate Reason a Woman Swallowed 55 AA And AAA BatteriesDoctors in Ireland removed 50 batteries from a woman's gut and stomach after she swallowed them in an apparent act of deliberate self-harm.
Read more »
25-year-old man arrested in connection with homicide of 50-year-old Akron womanA 25-year-old man was arrested on Saturday afternoon in connection with the homicide of a 50-year-old woman, according to a news release from Akron Police Department.
Read more »
2 Illinois sites get new names, eliminating derogatory term for a Native American womanA suburban Chicago waterway and a western Illinois island have been renamed under a new national policy to remove their previous names' use of a racist term for a Native American woman.
Read more »
Myocardial Infarction in Women Younger Than 50: Lessons to LearnWomen under 50 are increasingly having heart attacks without doctors really knowing why. The WAMIF study looks at the clinical, biological and morphological features linked to hospital mortality after 12 months in women under 50. ESCCongress
Read more »