Sodium hypochlorite (NaOCl) is commonly used as a disinfectant or bleaching agent. The ingestion of household bleach is often
benign, with minimal irritating effect on the mucosa. Occasionally, however, it can be life-threatening. Here, we report an unusual
case of acute poisoning involving household bleach with a near-fatal outcome that was treated with intense hemodialysis. A
42-year-old woman presented to the emergency room after ingesting 1 liter of 5% household bleach. Ten hours later, her metabolic
acidosis, hypernatremia, hyperchloremia, and renal failure deteriorated gradually, despite aggressive medical treatment. Rapid, effective
correction of the metabolic acidosis and electrolytes imbalance was needed and hemodialysis was performed immediately.
After 3 days of dialysis, the laboratory imbalance was completely corrected.