A clinical pathologic study of four adult cases of acute mercury inhalation toxicity.
We report four cases of fatal mercury vapor inhalation, a rare occurrence. The mercury vapor was released at a private home, where one of the occupants was smelting silver from dental amalgam containing an unknown amount of mercury. Within 24 hours of the incident, all occupants began having shortness of breath necessitating hospital admission. The clinical courses are briefly detailed; however, all included rapid deterioration with respiratory failure. Chest roentgenograms in all four cases were consistent with adult respiratory distress syndrome. All patients were treated with dimercaprol, a mercury chelator, but all died, with survival varying from 9 to 23 days postexposure. Autopsies were performed on all four patients. The lungs in all cases were heavy, firm, and airless. Histologic examination revealed severe diffuse alveolar damage, with variable amounts of fibrosis, conforming with acute lung injury in various stages of organization. Additional postmortem findings included acute proximal renal tubular necrosis, vacuolar hepatoxicity, and a spectrum of central nervous system alterations including multifocal ischemic necrosis, gliosis, and vasculitis.