Gastrointestinal Manifestations of Lead Poisoning: A Brief Report

Gastrointestinal (GI) manifestations of lead poisoning include abdominal pain, constipation, and diarrhea. Depending on the severity of a symptom, surgical consultation is required. The present study aimed to make a comparison between the mean blood lead levels of patients hospitalized for lead toxicity and the various Gl symptoms. A retrospective cross-sectional study was performed in 2020 at Khorshid Hospital, the main regional referral center for poisoned patients (Isfahan, Iran). A total of 82 patients aged ≥18 years who were hospitalized for lead poisoning during 2017-2018 were included in the study. Patients' information was extracted from hospital medical records, including demographic information, clinical manifestations, blood lead levels, and treatment outcome. The mean age of the patients was 48.18±11.9 years, 91.5% were men, and 62.2% suffered from multiple GI symptoms, with abdominal pain being predominant (31.7%). Blood lead levels in patients with multiple GI symptoms were higher than those with only one symptom (P=0.01). Surgical consultation was required in 14.6% of the patients. Multiple GI symptoms were the main predictive factor for blood lead levels above 70 mg/dL (P=0.03, Odds ratio=3.06, 95% CI=1.09-8.61). Given the prevalence of abdominal pain and its association with elevated blood lead levels, differential diagnosis of abdominal pain should include lead toxicity.

Effect of Silicone Rubber-Lead (SR-Pb) Thickness on Dose Reduction and Image Quality as Gonad Shield

BACKGROUND

Some organs in the body are sensitive to radiation such as eyes, breast, and gonads. Protection of sensitive organs against radiation is necessary. Recently, many sensitive organ shields have been developed from different materials.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of this study is to evaluate the dose reduction and image quality from implementation of Silicone Rubber-Lead (SR-Pb) as an alternative gonad shield in digital radiography (DR).

MATERIAL AND METHODS

In this experimental study, the SR-Pb gonad shields with various thicknesses of 2, 4, 6, 8, and 10 mm were synthesized. This study used the Pb percentage of 5 wt%. An anthropomorphic phantom was used in abdomen plain examinations. The results obtained from the use of the SR-Pb was compared with standard gonad shield, i.e. lead apron. To measure the dose reduction, the Piranha detector was used. The image quality assessment was evaluated with the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) and the contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR).

RESULTS

This study showed the dose reduction was significant for all SR-Pb thicknesses, and incrementally increased with the increase of the SR-Pb thickness. The minimum and maximum of dose reduction were 22.8% for 2 mm and 66.9% for 10 mm SR-Pb, respectively.

CONCLUSION

Compared to the reference image without gonad shield, the SNR and CNR do not significantly change. Hence, the SR-Pb is probably to be used as an alternative gonad shield.