title: Potassium permanganate toxicity: A rare case with difficult airway management and hepatic damage.
abstract: Potassium permanganate (KMnO4) is rarely used for suicidal attempt. Its ingestion can lead to local as well as systemic toxicities due to coagulation necrosis and damage, caused by free radicals of permanganate. We recently managed a case of suicidal ingestion of KMnO4 in a lethal dose. She had significant narrowing of upper airway leading to difficult intubation as well as hepatic dysfunction and coagulopathy as systemic manifestation. We suggest to keep ourselves ready to handle difficult airway with the aid of fiber optic bronchoscope or surgical airway management in such patients. Upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy should be done at the earliest to determine the extent of upper GI injury and further nutrition planning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care Medicine and Pulmonology, Metro Heart Institute with Multispeciality, Sector 16A, Faridabad, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Vijay Kumar
authors.initials: VK
authors.lastname: Agrawal
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care Medicine and Pulmonology, Metro Heart Institute with Multispeciality, Sector 16A, Faridabad, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Abhishek
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bansal
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care Medicine and Pulmonology, Metro Heart Institute with Multispeciality, Sector 16A, Faridabad, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Ranjeet
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care Medicine and Pulmonology, Metro Heart Institute with Multispeciality, Sector 16A, Faridabad, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Bhanwar Lal
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: Kumawat
authors.affiliation: Department of Critical Care Medicine and Pulmonology, Metro Heart Institute with Multispeciality, Sector 16A, Faridabad, Haryana, India.
authors.forename: Parul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Mahajan
keywords: Coagulopathy; difficult airway; emergency endoscopy; hepatic dysfunction; potassium permanganate