Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 72, Issue 4 , Pages 219-221, April 2009

Acute Severe Chromium Poisoning After Dermal Exposure to Hexavalent Chromium

  • Chun-Chi Lin

      Affiliations

    • Division of Clinical Toxicology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Ming-Ling Wu

      Affiliations

    • Division of Clinical Toxicology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Corresponding Author InformationCorrespondence to: Dr Ming-Ling Wu, Division of Clinical Toxicology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, 201, Section 2, Shih-Pai Road, Taipei 112, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Chen-Chang Yang

      Affiliations

    • Division of Clinical Toxicology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Environmental and Occupational Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Jiin Ger

      Affiliations

    • Division of Clinical Toxicology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Wei-Jen Tsai

      Affiliations

    • Division of Clinical Toxicology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • ,
  • Jou-Fang Deng

      Affiliations

    • Division of Clinical Toxicology, Department of Medicine, Taipei Veterans General Hospital, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.
    • Department of Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, National Yang-Ming University School of Medicine, Taipei, Taiwan, R.O.C.

Received 23 May 2008; accepted 25 November 2008.

Severe acute chromium poisoning related to dermal involvement has rarely been reported in the literature. We report a case of acute severe chromium poisoning through skin exposure as a result of a chemical burn of 15% of the body surface area and multiple organ failure after short-term exposure. Medical interventions, including mechanical ventilation, continuous venovenous hemofiltration, and plasmapheresis were performed. In addition, a chelating agent, dimercapto-propane sulfonic acid, was infused intravenously, combined with intravenous N-acetylcysteine and ascorbic acid as adjuvant therapy. The patient was discharged on day 33 without long-term sequelae. The consequence of transdermal exposure of hexavalent chromium should not be overlooked.

Key Words:  acute renal failure , chromium poisoning , dermal exposure

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PII: S1726-4901(09)70059-0

doi:10.1016/S1726-4901(09)70059-0

Journal of the Chinese Medical Association
Volume 72, Issue 4 , Pages 219-221, April 2009

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