pica and Sepsis

In this report, a pediatric case of bowel obstruction with sepsis complicated by methamphetamine toxicity is described. The decedent, an eleven-year-old female with a clinical history of pica, was found unresponsive in her home and pronounced dead following unsuccessful resuscitative efforts. Radiologic imaging showed multiple radio-opaque foreign objects in the stomach and bowel. Autopsy revealed a green leafy substance, coins and other metallic items, folded paper, and plastic in her stomach and bowels. Postmortem iliac blood and urine tested positive for amphetamine and methamphetamine. While the decedent's medical history and autopsy findings provided evidence consistent with bowel obstruction with sepsis due to the ingestion of foreign materials, the high methamphetamine concentration was suggestive of concurrent methamphetamine toxicity. Unique complications associated with this case include the phenomenon that methamphetamine toxicity and bowel obstruction can present similarly in children and the reported opinion that accidental drug ingestion is uncommon in children over the age of five. This case emphasizes that the age range for suspected accidental drug ingestion should be expanded for those with pica, as these patients, despite being older, may not be able to differentiate between what they should and should not ingest. Furthermore, when treating a pediatric patient with pica that appears to present with bowel obstruction, unintentional drug ingestion should also be considered, particularly if there is a suspicion that the child lives in a household where drugs are abused, given the prospect that drug toxicity can present similarly.

Topics: Amphetamine; Central Nervous System Stimulants; Child; Colon, Sigmoid; Drug Overdose; Female; Foreign Bodies; Humans; Intestinal Obstruction; Methamphetamine; Pica; Sepsis; Stomach

This is a report of a 54-year-old schizophrenic patient with a 15-year history of ingesting metal objects (pica). He presented with severe anemia (hemoglobin of 3 g/dl and hematocrit of 8.3%) and leukopenia (white blood count of 1,300/mm3). Work-up revealed copper deficiency (copper level of <0.05 microg/ml) and elevated zinc levels (280 microg/ml). The zinc toxicity was produced by the zinc content in the coins ingested by the patient over a period of many years. He was initially treated with -acetylcysteine and sodium bicarbonate followed by intravenous copper sulfate. He was also placed on Adolph's meat tenderizer and pancreatin thrice a day orally to loosen the massive amount of metallic objects including coins in his bowel and allow them to pass out in his feces. He was also continued on oral copper sulfate. His copper levels began to rise and reached a maximum of 0.72 microg/ml, and his zinc level fell to 153 microg/ml. However, as he refused surgery to remove the metal objects from his bowel and continued to ingest more coins, there was continued absorption of zinc, which later overcame the efforts to reduce the zinc level and increase copper levels in his blood. He finally succumbed to sepsis and multiorgan failure. Autopsy revealed a coin mass in the stomach weighing 1,870 grams in addition to a sigmoid volvulus caused by another coin bezoar in the colon.

Topics: Anemia, Sideroblastic; Bezoars; Copper; Fatal Outcome; Humans; Male; Metals; Middle Aged; Multiple Organ Failure; Pica; Sepsis; Tomography; Zinc