Teaching NeuroImages: multiple epidural abscesses after acupuncture.
case_report · Level V
Where this comes from
- Record sourced from PubMed, PMID 23569004.
- Also identified by DOI 10.1212/WNL.0b013e31828c2f1d and PMC identifier 3662265.
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Abstract
An 80-year-old woman presented with 2 days of progressive quadriparesis, difficulty voiding, and fever. She had received acupuncture in the cervical and lumbar regions for 5 days beginning a week before. Whole-spine MRI showed multiple epidural abscesses at levels C3-7, L3-5, and L5-S1 (figure). Broad-spectrum antibiotics were administered, and the abscesses were surgically drained. Strains of <i>Staphylococcus aureus</i> were isolated. Single epidural abscesses after acupuncture have been reported, but multiple abscesses due to acupuncture are extremely rare.<sup>1,2</sup>
Medical subject headings
- Acupuncture Therapy
- Epidural Abscess
- Magnetic Resonance Imaging
- Quadriplegia
- Spinal Cord Compression