title: [Voluntary mercury poisoning: biological consequences and psychiatric significance].
abstract: A young patient suffering from schizophrenia had intense headaches and photophobia which were induced by intra-ocular injections of mercury. The clinical diagnosis was established once foreign bodies were visualized on regular X-rays of the patients skull. The mercury intoxication in combination with the secondary irreversible lesions to the eyes necessitated a bilateral enucleation and the use of a chelating treatment with sodium-dimercapto-1-propane sulfate (DMP). Automutilation is a very rare and dramatic complication of schizophrenia. The psychiatric handling and meaning of such dramatic automutilation is discussed in this case report together with a recent review of the toxicologic treatment of mercury intoxication in humans.
authors.affiliation: Département de Médecine Interne-B, CHUV, Lausanne.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jornod
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vannotti
authors.forename: D R
authors.initials: DR
authors.lastname: Dascal
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Auer
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Berode
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Savolainen
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Buclin
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nicod
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Waeber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D003131:Combined Modality Therapy; D005129:Eye Foreign Bodies / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007267:Injections; D008630:Mercury Poisoning / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D010348:Patient Care Team; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis*; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology; D012652:Self Mutilation / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology