2006 Volume 66 Issue 1 Pages 12-21
Swallowing accidents involving coin-type lithium batteries or button-type alkali batteries often occur in children. After the swallowed battery contacts the same area of the digestive tract for long periods, an alkali solution is produced from electrolysis of the digestive solution and the electrolytic solution of the battery resulting in necrosis. This experiment was conducted in an effort to determine how to protect or reduce necrosis in these accidents. Dogs were divided into two groups. A coin-type battery was placed on the esophagus in the control group (n=3) . For the group treated with graphite suspension (n=3), a 5% graphite suspension in saline was infused at the same time as battery application (n=1), and the graphite suspension was infused to the same place one minute after application of the battery (n=2) . Sixty minutes after battery insertion, necrosis was microscopically observed in the tunica muscularis from the epithelium. However, necrosis was not observed when the graphite suspension and the battery were applied at the same time. Furthermore, when the graphite suspension was infused one minute after battery insertion, necrosis was less observed only in tunica muscularis from the epithelium. This demonstrates that graphite suspension infused to the esophagus shorted the battery circuits and had a protective effect. With accidental swallowing of a battery, the infusion of 5% graphite suspension in saline to surround the battery might be much more effective as an emergent treatment until the patients is transported to the hospital.
