RI Hospital warns outdoor grilling can pose brush with danger

PROVIDENCE, R.I. (AP) -- Rhode Island Hospital is warning against the potential dangers of wire grill brush bristles after six patients accidentally ingested them and required surgery.

A new article in a research journal about diagnostic imaging documents six cases of people who visited the emergency room complaining of abdominal pain and painful swallowing. All had eaten grilled meat within the last 24 hours, and the meat had been prepared on grills cleaned with wire brushes.

In two patients the bristles went through the small intestine. In another it perforated the stomach and went into the liver. Physicians found the bristles in the other three patients' necks.

Dr. David Grand, a radiologist in the hospital's diagnostic imaging department, was the study's lead author.

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