Case Report

Ethylene Glycol Toxicity Following Brake Oil Ingestion

DOI https://doi.org/10.70302/jpsim.v3i4.2269
Received: 25 Jul 2022 Accepted: 02 Oct 2022 Published Online: 18 Dec 2022

Abstract

Break oil is used as a lubricant in automobiles. Children and predisposed individuals with a history of mental illness are particularly at risk of intoxication. The wide range of toxic doses and delay in onset made it difficult to categorise the severity of intoxication at presentation. A 17-years-old boy presented to emergency department with excruciating abdominal pain. He was drowsy had a GCS of 12/15 and had been anuric for the previous 24hrs. The Patient disclosed that he ingested about 50ml of break oil as a suicidal attempt. Labs revealed severe metabolic acidosis with acute kidney injury at presentation. Due to late presentation and severe metabolic acidosis with kidney injury, immediate hemodialysis was planned. Three sessions of hemodialysis yielded considerable improvement over course of 3 days but patient died due to cardio toxicity on 4th day of treatment. Break oil poisoning has several clinical evolutions through the deposition of harmful metabolites. After intoxication patient can present in any phase of toxicity. Cardiopulmonary involvement and delayed treatment could be fatal as seen in this case. Early treatment of metabolic acidosis should be done to prevent vital organs from toxicity

Keywords
Break lubricants cardio toxicity Acute kidney injury.

How to Cite This Article

Khan M, Ahmad T, Khan N, Saifuddin S. Ethylene Glycol Toxicity Following Brake Oil Ingestion. J Pak Soc Intern Med. 2022;3(4):345–348. doi:10.70302/jpsim.v3i4.2269

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Conflict of Interest

All authors declare no competing interests.

Disclosed in accordance with ICMJE and COPE guidelines.

Funding

No specific funding was received for this research.

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CC BY CC BY 4.0 This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. May be shared and adapted with attribution. © 2022 Journal of Pakistan Society of Internal Medicine.