Massive Penny Ingestion: The Loot with Local and Systemic Effects

A 57-year-old schizophrenic woman presented with lethargy, nausea, vomiting, and anorexia after coin ingestion. She was found to have multiple organ dysfunction manifested as hepatitis, pancreatitis, severe anemia with markedly depressed bone marrow response, extravascular hemolysis, and acute renal failure. Prolonged exposure to zinc from massive coin ingestion was responsible. Zinc poisoning is an unusual consequence of coin ingestion in the adult human literature. A detailed discussion on zinc poisoning, as well as the pitfalls in radiological diagnosis of massive coin ingestion, is presented.