A Case of Button Battery Ingestion Mimicking Inferior Myocardial Ischemia and Atypical Chest Pain

With the increasing use of electronic toys, the number of cases involving battery ingestion has risen significantly in recent years. This case report presents a child who attended the emergency department with sudden chest pain and crying episodes. The electrocardiogram (ECG) revealed signs of myocardial ischemia in inferior leads, despite completely normal cardiac function. A chest X-ray detected a button battery lodged in the esophagus. A 4-year-old boy presented to the emergency department with sudden, intense chest pain and crying while playing with his toys. An electrocardiogram showed prolonged corrected QT interval (cQT 0.56), marked ST depression, and negative T waves in leads DII, DIII and aVF. Echocardiography (ECHO) revealed normal cardiac function. Cardiac enzyme and biochemical tests returned normal results (troponin-I ≤ 3.2 ng/L, CK-MB 29.8 U/L). A disc-shaped battery was detected on chest radiography, and electrocardiographic findings completely normalized after the battery was removed endoscopically. In the literature, rare adult cases of multiple cylindrical battery ingestion have been reported with ECG findings that mimic myocardial ischemia or infarction. Our case is notable as it presents a single disc battery lodged in the esophagus of a pediatric patient that mimicked an inferior myocardial infarction.