Battery Ingestion

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Medical Author:

Kenneth I Steinberg, DO

Coauthor:

Beth A Longenecker, DO

Medical Editor:

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

William C. Shiel Jr., MD, FACP, FACR

Dr. Shiel received a Bachelor of Science degree with honors from the University of Notre Dame. There he was involved in research in radiation biology and received the Huisking Scholarship. After graduating from St. Louis University School of Medicine, he completed his Internal Medicine residency and Rheumatology fellowship at the University of California, Irvine. He is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Rheumatology.

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• Battery Ingestion Overview
• Battery Ingestion Causes
• Battery Ingestion Symptoms
• When to Seek Medical Care
• Battery Ingestion Diagnosis
• Battery Ingestion Treatment
• Battery Ingestion Self-Care at Home
• Battery Ingestion Medical Treatment
• Battery Ingestion Prevention
• Battery Ingestion Prognosis
• Battery Ingestion Pictures
• Synonyms and Keywords
• Authors and Editor

In recent years, our electronic toys and gadgets have become increasingly miniaturized. Their power requirements are being met by a new generation of compact, high-performance batteries. These disk batteries are small, pill- or coin-shaped devices that contain heavy metals such as zinc, mercury, silver, nickel, cadmium, and lithium. They also contain concentrated solutions of caustic electrolytes, usually potassium or sodium hydroxide. Their compact size and harmless appearance hide their true danger.

The danger comes when children (and sometimes adults) knowingly or mistakenly put these tiny batteries in their mouths and swallow them.

Most swallowed batteries cause no problem (89.9% of the time).

• Batteries lodged in the esophagus (the food pipe between mouth and stomach) must be removed immediately. They cause damage by their pressure against the wall of the esophagus, from leakage of caustic alkali, and the electrical current they generate. Injury can occur in as short a time as one hour. Full-thickness burns can occur in four hours. Batteries passing through the esophagus usually pass uneventfully through the entire digestive tract.

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