Elemental Mercury Vapour Toxicity, Treatment, and Prognosis After Acute, Intensive Exposure in Chloralkali Plant Workers. Part II: Hyperchloraemia and Genitourinary Symptoms

Exposure to elemental mercury vapour is known to influence renal function; however, severe renal disease has not been consistently identified. Eleven men were evaluated for renal disease after acute, massive mercury poisoning. Significant hyperchloraemia was identified in this group of patients and...

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Published in:Human & experimental toxicology 1992-05, Vol.11 (3), p.211-215
Main Authors: Bluhm, Renata E., Breyer, Julia A., Bobbitt, Robert G., Welch, Larry W., Wood, Alastair J.J., Branch, Robert A.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Chelation Therapy
Chlorides - blood
Construction Materials - adverse effects
Humans
Male
Mercury Poisoning - drug therapy
Mercury Poisoning - physiopathology
Middle Aged
Neuropsychological Tests
Occupational Diseases - drug therapy
Occupational Diseases - physiopathology
Penicillamine - analogs & derivatives
Penicillamine - therapeutic use
Prognosis
Proteinuria - chemically induced
Succimer - therapeutic use
Urogenital System - drug effects
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Summary:Exposure to elemental mercury vapour is known to influence renal function; however, severe renal disease has not been consistently identified. Eleven men were evaluated for renal disease after acute, massive mercury poisoning. Significant hyperchloraemia was identified in this group of patients and a reversible renal tubular defect was suggested by low normal serum bicarbonate, a normal serum anion gap and a positive urinary anion gap. The only other evidence of renal dysfunction was transient, mild proteinuria in one of the 11 patients. During this same time period, neuropsychological impairment was identified on a test of cognitive and visual-motor function, 'Trailmaking B', in seven of the 11 patients. Additionally, dysuria and ejaculatory pain occurred without evidence of urological disease. These complaints were more frequent in those patients with impairement on 'Trailmaking B' suggesting a neurological basis for these symptoms. The findings of this study support earlier observations that the brain rather than the kidney is the critical target organ after elemental mercury vapour exposure.
ISSN:0960-3271
1477-0903
DOI:10.1177/096032719201100309