Jang AY, Suh SY. Extreme venous letting and cupping resulting in life-threatening anemia and acute myocardial infarction: A case report. World J Clin Cases 2020; 8(24): 6432-6436 [PMID: 33392327 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i24.6432]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Soon Yong Suh, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Cardiology, Gachon University Gil Hospital, 21, Namdong-daero 774 beon-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 21565, South Korea. ssy@gilhospital.com
Research Domain of This Article
Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
Article-Type of This Article
Case Report
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Dec 26, 2020; 8(24): 6432-6436 Published online Dec 26, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i24.6432
Extreme venous letting and cupping resulting in life-threatening anemia and acute myocardial infarction: A case report
Albert Youngwoo Jang, Soon Yong Suh
Albert Youngwoo Jang, Department of Cardiology, Gachon University Gil Medical Center, Incheon 21565, South Korea
Soon Yong Suh, Department of Cardiology, Gachon University Gil Hospital, Incheon 21565, South Korea
Author contributions: Jang AY and Suh SY were the patient’s interventionists; they reviewed the literature and contributed to drafting, writing, editing, and revising the manuscript; all authors issued final approval of the version to be submitted.
Informed consent statement: Written informed consent was obtained from the patient for the publication of this report and any accompanying images.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
CARE Checklist (2016) statement: The authors have read the CARE Checklist (2016), and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the CARE Checklist (2016).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Soon Yong Suh, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Cardiology, Gachon University Gil Hospital, 21, Namdong-daero 774 beon-gil, Namdong-gu, Incheon 21565, South Korea. ssy@gilhospital.com
Received: July 28, 2020 Peer-review started: July 28, 2020 First decision: September 24, 2020 Revised: October 7, 2020 Accepted: November 14, 2020 Article in press: November 14, 2020 Published online: December 26, 2020
Abstract
BACKGROUND
Wet cupping (WC) is a traditional therapy of skin suction-assisted bloodletting that is widely used in modern alternative medicine in Asia and the Middle East. Herein, we report the case of a male who presented with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and life-threatening anemia and underwent excessive WC.
CASE SUMMARY
A 55-year-old male presented with chest pain (30 min) and dyspnea (3 wk). His initial electrocardiogram suggested STEMI in the anterior wall. Furthermore, his laboratory results showed severe anemia with a hemoglobin level of 4.1 g/dL. Of note, the patient underwent regular WC therapy for chronic back pain, which he had recently intensified. His WC practice resulted in life-threatening anemia and eventually STEMI. Percutaneous coronary intervention in the left anterior descending artery was performed to treat the STEMI. His dyspnea dramatically improved after the transfusion, and his hemoglobin level returned to 14.8 g/dL within 2 mo after discharge. He has been uneventful for the last seven years of follow-up.
CONCLUSION
The current case demonstrates that excessive WC without adequate medical monitoring can result in severe anemia, which can further develop into STEMI.
Core Tip: Wet cupping (WC) is a traditional therapy for promoting bloodletting by applying subatmospheric pressure to a glass cup attached to a skin-pricked, bleeding lesion. Herein, we report a man who self-performed excessive WC and presented with ST-elevation myocardial infarction and life-threatening anemia.
