Am J Chin Med. 1988 ; 16(1-2): 81-2.

Serratia marcescens infected silk suture rejected by combined acupuncture, moxibustion and low-power laser therapy from the abdominal fascia.

Sternfeld M, Finkelstein Y, Hod I.

Kaplan Hospital, Pulmonary Unit, Rehovot, Israel.

Upper abdominal pains lasting 12 years after cholecystectomy, were improved in an 82-year-old woman following the rejection of indigestable silk surgical sutures induced by combined therapy of acupuncture, moxibustion and low-power laser beam irradiation directed to an old post-cholecystectomy scar. An inflammatory reaction followed by granulation tissue mass was developed. Embedded in the granulation tissue were the above mentioned silk sutures which finally were expelled through the skin at the operation scar. A surgical procedure suggested to the patient, in case of acupuncture therapy failure, was obviously avoided. Serratia-marcescens infection of the expelled material was bacteriologically defined.