Simple battery armor to protect against gastrointestinal injury from accidental ingestion
Name
Laulicht-2014-Simple battery armor.pdf
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1.31 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
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599a449f38daf024bb390f764ffbd4fb
Author(s)
Laulicht, Bryan E.
Deshpande, Vikram
Karp, Jeffrey Michael
Langer, Robert S
Traverso, Carlo Giovanni
Date Issued
November 2014
Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Publisher
National Academy of Sciences (U.S.)
Citation
Laulicht, Bryan, Giovanni Traverso, Vikram Deshpande, Robert Langer, and Jeffrey M. Karp. “Simple Battery Armor to Protect Against Gastrointestinal Injury from Accidental Ingestion.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 111, no. 46 (November 3, 2014): 16490–16495.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
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.
MIT Department
Harvard University--MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Chemical Engineering
Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
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DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1418423111
