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Keeping your children safe is always your top priority, but we all know that they're going to suffer the occasional injury — falling out of a tree, falling off their bike, or falling through a window. Children are their own worst enemy.
In recent years, no one can have missed the rise of fidget spinners. A simple toy, with three plastic arms that spin around a central bearing, they are sometimes marketed as an anxiety-reducing device for people with attention deficit-hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).
They describe two cases of children swallowing batteries from broken fidget spinners: one of a 3-year-old boy, and the other of a 4-year-old girl.
One swallowed the central disk cap of a broken fidget spinner, which included a button battery. The other swallowed a battery that escaped from a damaged disk.
In both cases, the ingestion of lithium batteries caused deep esophageal burns.
When a lithium battery comes into contact with body fluids, it can cause injury very quickly. The boy needed an emergency endoscopy to remove the 1-inch battery. He stayed in hospital for almost 3 weeks due to concerns that a fistula may have developed between the esophagus and aorta (the largest artery).
A fistula is an abnormal connection between two spaces within the body and, in this region, could be life-threatening.
In the meantime, if a toddler presents "with a history of unexplained sudden abdominal or chest pain, the physician should inquire if any fidget spinners are in the home."
As for consumers and parents, extra vigilance is recommended. Understanding where the danger lies is the first step to preventing it.
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