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Quicksilver Cholecystitis
- Douglas Zippel, MD;
- Stefan Urbanski, MD; and
- Francis Sutherland, MD
- From Tom Baker Cancer Centre, Calgary, Alberta T4N 4N2, Canada.
Background: Mercury is a highly toxic heavy metal that may cause accidental poisoning through industrial and environmental exposure. In 1923, Umber (1) was the first to report the rare occurrence of deliberate injection of elemental mercury. In this case, a young woman attempted suicide by self-injecting the substance, which caused diffuse abdominal pain, renal insufficiency, and pulmonary embolization of mercury particles. Since then, there have been approximately 20 sporadic case reports of attempted suicide by parenteral injection of elemental mercury (2). When injected intravenously, mercury usually becomes trapped …
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