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Case Reports
. 2015 Mar 12:3:12.
doi: 10.1186/s40560-015-0079-2. eCollection 2015.

How unclogging a sink can be lethal: case report of an accidental methyl bromide poisoning leading to a multiple organ failure

Sylvain Lecailtel  1 , Céline Broucqsault-Dedrie  1 , Clément Vanbaelinghem  1 , Martine Nyunga  1 , Delphine Colling  1 , Patrick Herbecq  1
Affiliations
Case Reports

How unclogging a sink can be lethal: case report of an accidental methyl bromide poisoning leading to a multiple organ failure

Sylvain Lecailtel et al. J Intensive Care. .

Abstract

Methyl bromide (CH3Br) is a colorless and odorless volatile gas, used as an insecticide, fire extinguisher, fumigant, and refrigerant. Although forbidden since 1987 for domestic use, it is still used in industry, for example, to fumigate agricultural fields which are for importation in the United States. Here is the case of a 74-year-old man who was accidentally exposed to methyl bromide after using an old fire extinguisher. Even though he finally survived, he developed a severe multiple organ failure and spent 2 months in intensive care unit. We present in this report all the difficulties we had to diagnose this unusual poisoning.

Keywords: Intensive care; Methyl bromide; Multiple organ failure; Poisoning.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Brain abnormalities of a patient. (a) MRI showing hyperintense lesions of thalami. (b) Same patient; MRI showing hyperintense lesions of dentate nuclei. (c) Same patient; MRI showing lesions of the posterior white matter in the brainstem pons and in the periaqueductal gray matter of the midbrain.
Figure 2
Figure 2
The patient used the old fire extinguisher to unclog his sink, containing methyl bromide.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Evolution of the methyl bromide plasma levels.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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