An uncommon cause of Staphylococcus aureus sepsis

Publication status and reporting quality of case reports on acupuncture-related adverse events: A systematic reviews of case studies

Introduction

Case reports on acupuncture-related adverse events (AEs) have been consistently published in the literature. This review aims to assess the current publication status of case reports on acupuncture-related AEs and evaluate their reporting quality in order to identify areas for improvement.

Methods

This study is a systematic review (SR) of case reports. Studies describing cases for acupuncture-related AEs between 2010 and 2023 (until July) were searched in PubMed, Embase, and local databases (China and Korea), as well as by hand-searching references included in published relevant SRs. A bibliometric analysis was conducted to examine the publication trends of the included literature. The appropriateness of the acupuncture described in the cases, the causality assessment between AEs and acupuncture treatment, and the presence of necessary items from the CAse REport guidelines (CARE) checklist were narratively analyzed.

Results

A total of 169 case reports were included in this review. Over the past decade, an average of 12 case reports on acupuncture-related AEs were published annually. However, only 38.2% of the articles provided sufficient information to determine the appropriateness of the acupuncture treatment used in the reported cases, and considerable numbers of the included case reports did not suggest enough information for the assessment of a causal relationship. The majority of cases did not report the timeline (n = 164), patient perspectives (n = 157), and informed consent (n = 121) items from the CARE checklist.

Discussion

Acupuncture-related AEs persist in being frequently reported in the literature. Nonetheless, the information concerning acupuncture and causality assessment within these publications is still found to be insufficient. The development of reporting guidelines for future case reports on acupuncture-related AEs is anticipated to promote an academic environment conducive to more comprehensive reporting.

Staphylococcus aureus Bacteremia from Diffuse Muscular Infection Following Acupuncture Visualized by 18F-FDG PET/CT and MRI

We describe the clinical course of a 60-year old male admitted with Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia and back-pain. The patient was suspected of having spondylitis and treated as such with antibiotics; however, both fluorine-18 fluoro-2-deoxy-d-glucose (18F-FDG) positron-emission tomography and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) with iv contrast showed significant inflammation of muscles and subcutaneous soft tissue in relation to the patients back and left shoulder, but no signs of the working diagnosis of spondylitis. The unusual location of the infection was not explained until a few days prior to being discharged when the patient reported visits to a local physiotherapist where he would have acupuncture performed for non-specific back pain. His last acupunctural procedure had been performed 6 days prior to admission. This case is, to our knowledge, the first to show muscular inflammation on both 18-F-FDG PET/CT and MRI following acupuncture due to S. aureus. This case highlights the need for clinicians to search for alternative explanations when imaging does not support the diagnosis.

An autopsy case of fatal acute peritonitis complicated by illegal acupuncture therapy

Acupuncture is an alternative medical therapy and widely practiced in Northeast Asia. Although it is known as a safe procedure, complications including infection, pneumothorax, hemorrhage, and cardiac tamponade have been reported. The authors present a rare case of fatal acute peritonitis due to penetration of acupuncture needles directly into the abdominal and pelvic cavity. The victim was a 55-year-old woman who had a recent history of chemo-radiotherapy due to breast cancer. She was collapsed three days after receiving acupuncture. She had symptoms of fever and chilling sensation, general myalgia, and vomiting during three days. The autopsy revealed several needle marks in the lower abdomen and 180ml of bloody exudate in the abdominal cavity. There was no visible intestinal perforation, but hemorrhagic foci in the mesentery and paracolic area of sigmoid colon were noted. The deepest portion was 13.5cm from the needle marks on the abdominal skin. The practitioner had not a Chinese medical license. He was accused of illegal medical practice and manslaughter. Acute peritonitis associated with acupuncture might be caused by inadequate sterilization of skin and needle itself and/or direct mesentery injury.