[Lythal]

Well thats a new way to do it!

A 21-year-old dental assistant attempted suicide by injecting 10 ml (135 g) of elemental mercury (quicksilver) intravenously. She presented to the emergency room with tachypnea, a dry cough, and bloody sputum.

While breathing room air, she had a partial pressure of oxygen of 86 mm Hg. A chest radiograph showed that the mercury was distributed in the lungs in a vascular pattern that was more pronounced at the bases. The patient was discharged after one week, with improvement in her pulmonary symptoms. Oral chelation therapy with dimercaprol was given for nine months, until the patient stopped the treatment; the urinary mercury level did not change during this period.

At follow-up at 10 months, she was healthy, with none of the renal, gastrointestinal, or neurologic effects that can result from the oxidation of mercury in the blood and consequent exposure of these organ systems.

The abnormalities on the chest radiograph were still apparent. Although these abnormalities are striking, the absence of clinical toxicity in this patient illustrates the differences in the acute and chronic effects of exposure to elemental mercury, inorganic mercury (e.g., mercuric chloride), and organic mercury (e.g., dimethylmercury). Inorganic and organic mercury are much more toxic than elemental mercury; for example, a dose of 400 mg of mercury in the form of dimethylmercury is usually lethal.

[killedbycuriosity]

I hope she got the help she needed, but I have to say... this x-ray? It's beautiful.

[pinkshadedgirafe]

Seems like she didn't really want to die. Why go through all the rehab if you didn't want to live?

[winvens]

Neat X-ray.
Quicksilver is radiopaque. Who knew?

[tbone79]

Crazy 'bout some Mercury, yeah crazy 'bout my Mercury.....

[Pyramid_Head]

Well it made for a cool x-ray.

[jacob beghner]

In a photo from The New England Journal of Medicine, elemental mercury accumulated in a woman’s lungs after she attempted suicide by injecting 10 ml (135 g) intravenously. She arrived at the emergency room with rapid breathing, a dry cough, and bloody mucus. The woman recovered from the ordeal and after a 10 month follow-up, she was deemed healthy with no renal, gastrointestinal, or neurological symptoms.

As the image description states, “The absence of clinical toxicity in this patient illustrates the differences in the acute and chronic effects of exposure to elemental mercury, inorganic mercury, and organic mercury. Inorganic and organic mercury are much more toxic than elemental mercury; for example, a dose of 400 mg of mercury in the form of dimethylmercury is usually lethal.”

[winvens]

Looks like frost crystals.

[jacob beghner]

I thought it was strange that the lungs was the place it would all end up.

[LadyCPlum]

Well this is a first...