Acute elevation of blood lead levels within hours of ingestion of large quantities of lead shot

Background: Ingestion of elemental lead foreign bodies is felt to have a lo w risk of clinically significant lead absorption unless gastrointestinal pa thology and/or prolonged transit time are present. We present a case of ing estion of a large quantity of small diameter lead shot accompanied by rapid elevation of blood lead levels. Case Report: A 5 1/2 -year-old previously healthy girl was found eating the pellets from an ankle weight. She vomited and complained of abdominal pain. In the emergency department, she had no complaints and normal vital signs. An abdominal X-ray showed thousands of s mall, round, metallic density objects in the stomach. Her white blood cell count was 14,700/mm(3), and the hemoglobin, mean corpuscular volume, free e rythrocyte protoporphyrin, zinc protoporphyrin, biochemistry panel 21, and urinalysis were normal. She had no prior lead level for comparison. Whole-b owel irrigation was begun and she passed over 11 stools with pellets as wel l as other foreign bodies (erasers, bead, etc.) in the first 24 hours. Pell ets were still seen on X-ray the following day so she received a high-fiber diet and bisacodyl tablets 10 mg/d. On hospital day 2, her admission blood lead (drawn 13 hours after ingestion) was reported as 57 mu g/dL (2.7 mu m /L) and chelation was begun with oral 2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid 10 mg/kg 3x/d for 5 days, then 2x/d for 14 days. Her peak measured lead level was 79 mu g/dL approximately 36 hours after ingestion. She excreted 2273 mu g lea d in the urine during her first 24 hours of chelation. Her blood lead dropp ed to 14.3 mu g/dL by the end of chelation. She did not develop any apparen t signs of lead poisoning. Conclusion: Acute elevations of blood lead conce ntrations may occur rapidly after ingestion of multiple small elemental lea d objects.