Thread by @DrEricLevi

Button battery (disc battery) fatality. Heart breaking. These batteries look like lollies to kids. Please protect your kids. @KidsafeVic @OperationOuch @xandvt @DoctorChrisVT abc.net.au/news/2020-10-2…

Here’s what it does to ham. My own experiment at home. The pics on left are at 0, 20 minutes and 40 minutes. The 2 pictures on the right are at 60 mins. Burned through 3 layers of ham.

Here is a couple of batteries I extracted from a child’s throat. They were there for a few hours as it was an unwitnessed event.

Here is what the internal lining of the oesophagus look like when a button battery has been there for a time.

Button batteries in the closed mucosa of the child’s throat create a complete electrical circuit and a chemical injury at the same time. That’s why the damage is immediate and severe.

Get to the OR or Operating Theatre ASAP! Stat!

Some controversies:

Pre-hospital: administer 10ml of honey every 10 minutes (max 6 times) if the child is over 12 months of age, less than 12 hours since ingestion and the child can swallow (while getting to the hospital, don’t stop off at the shops). litfl.com/button-battery…

And in the OR:

If no endoscopic evidence of perforation, irrigate injured area with 50-150ml 0.25% sterile acetic acid to neutralise residual alkali.

This is damage control.

Key message: identify and remove ASAP.

This is what was done here.

This Halloween and next Christmas, beware of kids toys with button batteries in them. They need to have screw cap protection to stop kids from opening the battery compartment.

Also note: remote controls, hearing aids and other devices in the home.