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Acupuncture needle-associated prosthetic knee infection after total knee arthroplasty

  • Case Report
  • Published:
Modern Rheumatology

Abstract

The case of a patient who previously had permanent acupuncture needles placed in the knee joint and had been doing well, with no evidence of infection, but who eventually underwent a revision total knee arthroplasty due to acupuncture needle-associated prosthetic infection is presented. The microorganism responsible for the infection was Enterococcus faecalis, a bacterium which rarely causes infection following arthroplasty. This case should be highlighted to increase the awareness of healthcare providers to acupuncture-associated subclinical infection that may be exacerbated by surgical manipulation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Toho University Sakura Medical Center, 564-1 Shimoshizu, Sakura, Chiba, 285-8741, Japan

    Arata Nakajima, Koichi Nakagawa, Yasuchika Aoki & Teruo Furufu

  2. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Chiba Aoba Municipal Hospital, Chiba, Japan

    Arata Nakajima, Hitoshi Watanabe & Masazumi Murakami

  3. Funabashi Orthopaedic Hospital, Funabashi, Chiba, Japan

    Ryutaku Kaneyama

  4. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba, Japan

    Masashi Yamazaki

  5. Department of Orthopaedic Surgery, Toho University Omori Medical Center, Tokyo, Japan

    Toru Suguro

Authors
  1. Arata Nakajima
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  2. Ryutaku Kaneyama
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  3. Hitoshi Watanabe
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  4. Masazumi Murakami
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  5. Koichi Nakagawa
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  6. Yasuchika Aoki
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  7. Masashi Yamazaki
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  8. Teruo Furufu
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  9. Toru Suguro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arata Nakajima.

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Nakajima, A., Kaneyama, R., Watanabe, H. et al. Acupuncture needle-associated prosthetic knee infection after total knee arthroplasty. Mod Rheumatol 20, 627–631 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10165-010-0331-5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10165-010-0331-5

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