Citation

Brownson EG, Thompson CM, Goldsberry S, Chong HJ, Friedrich JB, Pham TN, Arbabi S, Carrougher GJ, Gibran NS. New Engl. J. Med. 2016; 375(14): 1400-1402.

Affiliation

University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, WA elishag@uw.edu.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2016, Massachusetts Medical Society)

DOI

10.1056/NEJMc1608478

PMID

27705271

Abstract

Electronic nicotine-delivery systems (ENDS) include electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) and personal vaporizers. The prevalence of ENDS use is increasing among current, former, and never smokers. E-cigarettes share a basic design; common components include an aerosol generator, a flow sensor, a battery, and a solution storage area. Many users do not understand the risk of “thermal runaway,” whereby internal battery overheating causes a battery fire or explosion.

At our center, from October 2015 through June 2016, we treated 15 patients with injuries from e-cigarette explosions due to the lithium-ion battery component. Such explosions were initially thought to be rare, but there have been reports, primarily in the media, of 25 separate incidents of e-cigarette explosions from 2009 through 2014 across the United States. More recently, there have been case reports in the medical literature...

...We suspect that with the growing use of ENDS, many hospitals around the country will see an increase in injuries related to e-cigarette explosions. These patients often require complex multidisciplinary care involving emergency medicine providers, plastic surgeons, burn care providers, vocational counselors, and psychologists. Many of these patients are young, but we are seeing an expanding age spectrum, indicating a growing use of ENDS and the need for broad public health efforts...

Language: en