Liu Zhen-Hua, Wang Hai-Dong, Xu Xiao, Man Li-Bo
Department of Urology, Beijing JiShuiTan Hospital, The 4th Medical College of Peking University, No.96 Hui Nan North Road, Beijing, 100096, China.
BMC Surg. 2019 Aug 6;19(1):102. doi: 10.1186/s12893-019-0572-y.
Acupuncture is a famous traditional medicine in China, but the complications caused by broken acupuncture needles have been rarely reported. It seems easy to remove the foreign matters usually, but things become difficulty in special issues. Here, we reported a recently encountered case to provide an important teaching point of treating a chronically retained broken needle in retroperitoneum.
A 42-year-old man presented with a chronically retained broken needle in his body after acupuncture therapy two years ago. However, due to the discomfort at the left back recently and ordinary inconvenience such as security check, he came to our hospital for minimally invasive surgery. He was introduced to our department because the broken needle had migrated from subcutaneous to adipose tissue in retroperitoneum during the two years. Considering the position of the broken needle, the patient was performed by laparoscopy in general anesthesia. The operation time was about 31 min and there were only three 7 mm incisions in the left lateral abdominal wall. The X-ray exam was performed to confirm that the broken needle was removed integrally. The patients begun normal activity at 6 h after surgery and was discharged on the second day after surgery.
Acupuncture is widely used for pain treatment in China, but how to handle the complication of acupuncture needle broken in body are rarely reported. Laparoscopy will be the reasonable choice for treating needles broken in retroperitoneum.
针灸是中国著名的传统医学，但针灸针折断引起的并发症鲜有报道。通常情况下取出异物看似容易，但在特殊情况下就会变得困难。在此，我们报告一例近期遇到的病例，以提供治疗腹膜后长期留存的折断针的重要教学要点。
一名42岁男性在两年前接受针灸治疗后体内留存一根长期未取出的折断针。然而，由于近期左背部不适以及安检等日常不便，他前来我院接受微创手术。因其折断针在两年间已从皮下迁移至腹膜后的脂肪组织，故被收治入我科。考虑到折断针的位置，患者在全身麻醉下接受了腹腔镜手术。手术时间约31分钟，左侧腹壁仅有三个7毫米的切口。术后进行X线检查以确认折断针已完整取出。患者术后6小时开始正常活动，术后第二天出院。
针灸在中国广泛用于疼痛治疗，但关于如何处理体内折断的针灸针这一并发症鲜有报道。腹腔镜手术将是治疗腹膜后折断针的合理选择。
