Simple Battery Armor to Protect Against Gastrointestinal Injury from Accidental Ingestion
View/ Open
Simple battery armor to protect against gastrointestinal injury from accidental ingestion_0.pdf (1.320Mb)
Access Status
Full text of the requested work is not available in DASH at this time ("restricted access"). For more information on restricted deposits, see our FAQ.Author
Laulicht, Bryan
Traverso, Giovanni
Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1418423111Metadata
Show full item recordCitation
Laulicht, Bryan, Giovanni Traverso, Vikram Deshpande, Robert Langer, Jeffrey Karp. "Simple Battery Armor to Protect Against Gastrointestinal Injury from Accidental Ingestion." Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111, no. 46 (2014): 16490-16495. DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1418423111Abstract
Inadvertent battery ingestion in children and the associated morbidity and mortality results in thousands of emergency room visits every year. Given the risk for serious electrochemical burns within hours of ingestion, the current standard of care for the treatment of batteries in the esophagus is emergent endoscopic removal. Safety standards now regulate locked battery compartments in toys, which have resulted in a modest reduction in inadvertent battery ingestion; specifically, 3,461 ingestions were reported in 2009, and 3,366 in 2013. Aside from legislation, minimal technological development has taken place at the level of the battery to limit injury. We have constructed a waterproof, pressure-sensitive coating, harnessing a commercially available quantum tunneling composite. Quantum tunneling composite coated (QTCC) batteries are nonconductive in the low-pressure gastrointestinal environment yet conduct within the higher pressure of standard battery housings. Importantly, this coating technology enables most battery-operated equipment to be powered without modification. If these new batteries are swallowed, they limit the external electrolytic currents responsible for tissue injury. We demonstrate in a large-animal model a significant decrease in tissue injury with QTCC batteries compared with uncoated control batteries. In summary, here we describe a facile approach to increasing the safety of batteries by minimizing the risk for electrochemical burn if the batteries are inadvertently ingested, without the need for modification of most battery-powered devices.Other Sources
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4246317/Citable link to this page
https://nrs.harvard.edu/URN-3:HUL.INSTREPOS:37369767
Collections
- HMS Scholarly Articles [17714]
Contact administrator regarding this item (to report mistakes or request changes)