title: Brain death with calcium oxalate deposition in the kidney: clue to the diagnosis of ethylene glycol poisoning.
abstract: A young man presented to the emergency department with mental status changes, severe metabolic acidosis, and oliguria. Acute ethylene glycol intoxication was diagnosed. The patient suffered clinical brain death three days after admission despite intensive care and continuous hemodiafiltration. The patient died one month after admission. Autopsy revealed acute tubular necrosis of the kidneys with significant calcium oxalate depositions. The brain was markedly softening and with chronic meningoencephalitis and dural sinus thrombosis. We considered that the amount and the persistence of the calcium oxalate deposition in the kidney may afford a best clue to the postmortem diagnosis of ethylene glycol poisoning even in the chronic stage.
authors: Division of Forensic Medicine, Department of Public Health and Forensic Medicine, Tohoku University Graduate School of Medicine, 2-1, Seiryo-machi, Aoba-ku, 980-8575 Sendai, Japan. shirushi@forensic.med.tohoku.ac.jp <shirushi@forensic.med.tohoku.ac.jp>
authors: Shirushi
authors: S
authors: Takahashi
authors: Jun
authors: J
authors: Kanetake
authors: Yoshimasa
authors: Y
authors: Kanawaku
authors: Masato
authors: M
authors: Funayama
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001921:Brain / Q000473:pathology; D001926:Brain Death; D002129:Calcium Oxalate / Q000032:analysis*; D019855:Ethylene Glycol / Q000506:poisoning*; D049429:Forensic Pathology; D006801:Humans; D007668:Kidney / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000473:pathology; D007673:Kidney Cortex Necrosis / Q000473:pathology; D008297:Male; D008590:Meningoencephalitis / Q000473:pathology; D011041:Poisoning / Q000175:diagnosis; D012851:Sinus Thrombosis, Intracranial / Q000473:pathology
chemical_list: D002129:Calcium Oxalate; D019855:Ethylene Glycol