Intraabdominal Abscess after Acupuncture

A 64-year-old Korean woman had a four-week history of dull pain in the lower abdomen that was worse on movement; she had no gastrointestinal or urogenital symptoms. The previous year, the patient had regularly undergone abdominal acupuncture with the use of gold-tipped needles to treat dyspeptic epigastric pain. The last treatment was two weeks before presentation. In the two days before presentation, the pain had worsened and localized in the suprapubic region. On examination, the patient's temperature was 37.6°C and her abdomen was tender in the suprapubic region. The white-cell count was 15,800 per cubic millimeter. A plain abdominal film . . .