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

Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232-6602, USA, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232-6602, USA

Julia A. Breyer

Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232-6602, USA

Robert G. Bobbitt

Department of Psychiatry Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232-6602, USA

Larry W. Welch

Department of Psychiatry Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232-6602, USA

Alastair J.J. Wood

Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232-6602, USA, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232-6602, USA

Robert A. Branch

Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232-6602, USA, Department of Clinical Pharmacology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, TN 37232-6602, USA

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.

Human & Experimental Toxicology, Vol. 11, No. 3, 211-215 (1992)
DOI: 10.1177/096032719201100309


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				R. E. Bluhm, R. G. Bobbitt, L. W. Welch, A. J.J. Wood, J. F. Bonfiglio, C. Sarzen, A. J. Heath, and R. A. Branch Elemental Mercury Vapour Toxicity, Treatment, and Prognosis After Acute, Intensive Exposure in Chloralkali Plant Workers. Part I: History, Neuropsychological Findings and Chelator effects Human and Experimental Toxicology, January 1, 1992; 11(3): 201 - 210. [Abstract] [PDF]