Project Description:

The Button Battery Buds project team has developed a method for mitigating tissue necrosis caused by button battery ingestion. Ingestion of these batteries occurs about 3,500 times a year in the United States alone and can be extremely dangerous, especially to children under the age of six. Due to the smaller size of their esophagus, a button battery is highly likely to become lodged inside the thoracic inlet, where it forms a live circuit with the esophageal mucosal lining. Within 15 minutes, the battery begins to burn through the surrounding tissue and causes a dangerous rise in the pH of the esophagus. As time passes, there is an increased risk of major, life-threatening complications, including a high risk of perforation to the aorta or trachea after as little as two hours of direct contact. The current standard of care for mitigating damage is honey, which is non-sterile, and its efficacy in consistently disrupting the live circuit is unclear. In addition, the only method for treatment is endoscopic removal, which requires an operating room and a pediatric surgeon to be present, potentially delaying care by hours due to transfer times. This further elucidates the need for a method to prevent damage caused by the live circuit, as transfer from a lower-resource care setting to a tertiary or quaternary center may be difficult for some families. The Button Battery Buds team proposes the development of the EsophaSaver, a device consisting of an external circuit to discharge the battery, delivered to the battery location through an NG tube, with a grasper to attach to the battery. This solution will disrupt the live circuit, remediate the pH of the esophagus, and act swiftly to prevent major complications in the period between initial ingestion and removal via endoscopy.