ABSTRACT
Acrodynia is a reaction that occurs in children who have been exposed to mercury. Mercury toxicity has systemic manifestations as well as cutaneous manifestations, which can appear similar to those found in a number of other diseases. We present a case of acrodynia caused by mercury exposure in a previously healthy 5-year-old girl who developed hypertension, palmoplantar pruritus, and a papulovesicular eruption.
Subject(s)
Acrodynia/diagnosis , Foot Dermatoses/diagnosis , Hand Dermatoses/diagnosis , Acrodynia/complications , Acrodynia/pathology , Child, Preschool , Female , Foot Dermatoses/pathology , Hand Dermatoses/pathology , Humans , Hypertension/etiology , Mercury Poisoning/complications , Mercury Poisoning/diagnosis , Mercury Poisoning/pathology , Skin/pathologyABSTRACT
Mercury vapor poisoning is a serious and potentially fatal problem. Neurological manifestations involving the central nervous system are seen with chronic mercury intoxication. We present the case of a 10-year-old child who demonstrated acrodynia, seizures, and visual impairment following 20 days of exposure to elemental mercury at home. The initial blood mercury concentration was 27.7 microg/L (normal <2 microg/L) and the initial 24-hour urine mercury concentration was 34.4 microg/L (normal =10 microg/L). After 9 months of treatment with D-penicillamine, the patient's clinical condition, biochemical laboratory parameters, and mercury concentrations all returned to normal. The T2-weighted MRI images of the patient's brain initially showed multiple hyperintense lesions in cerebral white matter, left globus pallidus, and putamen, which also improved.
Subject(s)
Brain/drug effects , Brain/pathology , Magnetic Resonance Imaging , Mercury Poisoning/pathology , Acrodynia/drug therapy , Acrodynia/etiology , Acrodynia/pathology , Antidotes/therapeutic use , Chelating Agents/therapeutic use , Child , Humans , Inhalation Exposure , Male , Mercury Poisoning/complications , Mercury Poisoning/drug therapy , Penicillamine/therapeutic use , Seizures/chemically induced , Seizures/drug therapy , Seizures/physiopathology , Treatment Outcome , Vision Disorders/chemically induced , Vision Disorders/drug therapy , Vision Disorders/pathologyABSTRACT
A case of acrodynia in an eight-and-a-half-year-old girl is presented whose symptoms--profuse perspiration, swelling, desquamation, pain, itching of the extremities, pinkish color of the nose and cheeks and hypertension--responded sharply to nifedipine therapy.
Subject(s)
Acrodynia/drug therapy , Mercury Poisoning/complications , Nifedipine/therapeutic use , Acrodynia/chemically induced , Acrodynia/pathology , Child , Female , HumansABSTRACT
A 14-month-old girl who presented with multiple systemic complaints was found to have gingivitis, peeling of her palms and soles, and a peculiar acral eruption. A diagnosis of acrodynia, or pink disease, was confirmed by elevated levels of mercury in the urine. The many cutaneous manifestations of this once common disease are discussed.
