EKG Du Jour #26 - The Eveready Energizer Pseudo-Infarction

Courtesy of the June, 2012 issue of the J Am College of Cardiology, I give you this fascinating case report of a suicide attempt using 6 ingested cylindrical AAA batteries that created, literally, an injury current on the patient's surface EKG:

Panel A- CXR of batteries in stomach, Panel B- Presenting EKG  Panel C- EKG after batteries removed
(Click image to enlarge)

I must say, I've never seen an Eveready Energizer pseudo-infarction like this before.

Read the whole case report here.

-Wes

Reference:

Chang H, Hu S, Tsai M.  J Am Coll Cardiol. 2012;59(25):2387-2387. doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2011.11.073

Addendum 10 JUL 2012 14:15 PM CST: 
This EKG probably warrants a letter to the editor of JACC.  First of all, as has been pointed out by several individuals on Twitter (thanks @mzkhalil and @tobymarkowitz), it would be unusual for DC current to affect only the ST segment of the patient's EKG. Other causes of these findings include hyperventillation syndrome, coronary vasospasm (though this is usually associated with chest discomfort) or CNS disease to the EKG findings of an acute injury pattern, neither of which were discussed as possible causes for the findings, rather than a direct cause-and-effect of DC current from ingested batteries. 

At least that's my two cents.

-Wes