Liposuction Technique Used as a Treatment Modality for Suicide Attempt by Injection of Mercury

Liposuction Technique Used as a Treatment Modality for Suicide Attempt by Injection of Mercury

Elemental mercury poisoning commonly occurs through vapour inhalation as it is well absorbed through the lungs. Administering subcutaneous and intravenous elemental mercury is very uncommon with only a few isolated case reports in literature. We present a case of attempted suicide by subcutaneous in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Indian journal of surgery Vol. 78; no. 5; pp. 411 - 413
Main Authors: Kotera, Sai Suraj, Shankar, K. C. Madhu, Rajagopalan, S.
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: New Delhi Springer India 01-10-2016
Springer
Springer Nature B.V
Subjects:
Cardiac Surgery
Care and treatment
Case Report
Liposuction
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Mercury
Methods
Neurosurgery
Pediatric Surgery
Plastic Surgery
Poisoning
Suicidal behavior
Suicides & suicide attempts
Surgery
Thoracic Surgery
Self-inflected injury
Elemental mercury
Subcutaneous injection
Suicide
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Summary:Elemental mercury poisoning commonly occurs through vapour inhalation as it is well absorbed through the lungs. Administering subcutaneous and intravenous elemental mercury is very uncommon with only a few isolated case reports in literature. We present a case of attempted suicide by subcutaneous injection of elemental mercury, an unusual substance used for suicide. As the attempt at self-injury was not confessed by the patient, diagnosis was challenging. Patient was treated with an initial diagnosis of cellulitis, but with repeated and persistent questioning, a history of self-injection of mercury into the arm was revealed. On confirmation, mercury was aspirated from subcutaneous space similar to liposuction technique under X-ray guidance. Management of subcutaneous injection of elemental mercury with particular emphasis on the need for surgical removal of all available mercury is discussed.
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ISSN:0972-2068
0973-9793
DOI:10.1007/s12262-016-1534-6