Published in:
Open Access 01-12-2008 | Case report
Allergic enterocolitis and protein-losing enteropathy as the presentations of manganese leak from an ingested disk battery: A case report
Published in: Journal of Medical Case Reports | Issue 1/2008
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Introduction
Disk battery ingestions can lead to serious complications including airway or digestive tract perforation, blood vessel erosions, mediastinitis, and stricture formation.
Case presentation
We report a 20-month-old Caucasian child who developed eosinophilic enterocolitis and subsequent protein-losing enteropathy from manganese that leaked from a lithium disk battery. The disk battery was impacted in her esophagus for 10 days resulting in battery corrosion. We postulate that this patient's symptoms were due to a manganese leak from the 'retained' disk battery; this resulted in an allergic response in her gut and protein-losing enteropathy. Her symptoms improved gradually over the next 2 weeks with conservative management.
Conclusion
This is the first case report to highlight the potential complication of allergic enterocolitis and protein-losing enteropathy secondary to ingested manganese. Clinicians should be vigilant about this rare complication in managing patients with disk battery ingestions.