Trichlorethylene is Radio-Opaque

A 52 year-old woman was rushed from her home to the Accident and Emergency Department at our hospital, accompanied by her daughter. She had a previous history of deep depression but had not been treated by a psychiatrist for at least six months. She was said to have been taking 6 g of aspirin daily for the past six months. On arrival she was drowsy and unable to give coherent responses. We were told by her daughter that the patient had swallowed about 300 mL of sodium hypochlorite. We aspirated some gastric contents to compare this with the liquid in the bottle from which the patient had been drinking. The bottle was retrieved from home and proved to contain trichlorethylene, not sodium hypochlorite as previously reported.