Common in many homes, even in children’s games, tiny button batteries swallowed by small children can cause significant damage to the esophagus and nearby blood vessels and can result in ulcers if they remain in the esophagus for even a short amount of time.
Fifteen-month-old Laila was feverish and had been vomiting for two days when her mother took her to the Emergency Room at Hadassah Hospital Mount Scopus. No one at home suspected she had swallowed anything. But when doctors at the hospital, looking for a cause for her condition, insisted on x-rays, they found that, indeed, a tiny battery had lodged in her esophagus. Though it was the middle of the night, she was immediately transferred to Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem for emergency surgery.
“Button batteries may seem small and innocent, but they are a ticking time bomb," explains Dr. Liron Birimberg-Schwartz, a specialist in pediatric gastroenterology and the medical director of the Hadassah Organoids Center. “The energy charge, the substances released from the battery, and the local pressure created can cause severe damage to the esophageal lining and ulcers. The longer the battery remains in the esophagus, the greater the risk of a hole in the esophagus (perforation), and in rare cases, there may even be life-threatening complications, including damage to nearby blood vessels. Swallowing a button battery is an emergency. The patient should be taken immediately to the emergency room to remove it without delay."
Now recovered, Laila will have to be watched over time to ensure that no complications develop. To read the entire news story, click here.