The gastrointestinal manifestations of gunshot-induced lead poisoning.

Lead poisoning associated with gunshot is not unknown but, unless suspected, can be easily missed. We describe a patient with lead intoxication following a gunshot injury, who presented with abdominal colic, anorexia, and weight loss as initial manifestations. He had extremely high blood lead levels and the onset of lead poisoning was comparatively rapid. We review the recent English language literature (1980-1993) related to lead poisoning due to lead projectiles with particular emphasis on mechanisms responsible for its gastrointestinal manifestations.