Author(s)

Michele Paula dos Santos^1*, Taís Michele Werle¹, Mariana Martins Dantas Santos¹, Carolina Boeira Soares¹, Carlos Augusto Treviso¹, Italo Trois Maestri¹, Stella Duarte Pinto¹, Carolina Hack Alves¹, Laura Gomes Boabaid de Barros¹, Maria Eduarda Perobelli Buzetto¹, Guilherme Boeira Soares², Gabriel Lorentz Trein¹, Aline Porto¹, Bárbara Adelmann de Lima¹, Fernanda Bercht Merten¹, Luane Pereira Gomes¹, Rafaela Siviero Caron-Lienert³, Miriam Viviane Baron⁴

¹School of Medicine, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
²Course of Medicine, Lutheran University of Brazil (ULBRA), Canoas, Brazil.
³School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), Porto Alegre, Brazil.
⁴Interdisciplinary Institute of Science and Health Education, Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Background: Skin reactions and musculoskeletal injuries caused by intramuscular injection are an increased risk for skin and soft tissue infections and may culminate in sepsis. Objective: To describe the history of an elderly patient who developed a lesion in her right arm after home administration of intramuscular iron injection in this arm and its outcome. Methods: This is a case report of a patient who participated in a study in an intensive care unit. Results: This study describes a 65-year-old patient with multiple comorbidities who was admitted to the hospital complaining of pain for two months and difficulty in moving her right shoulder associated with skin and soft tissue infections in her right arm after intramuscular iron administration by a relative for the treatment of multifactorial anemia and refractory melena. The patient worsened her general condition and was transferred to the intensive care unit. Despite the therapy instituted, the patient developed sepsis of cutaneous origin, multiple organ dysfunction, and death. Conclusions: The administration of intramuscular medication requires the participation of qualified professionals, such as nurses, mainly within the scope of the Brazilian public health system which commonly comprises patients in a context of vulnerability.

Critical Care, Education, Continuing, Injectables, Septicemia, Soft Tissue Infections, Suppuration

dos Santos, M. , Werle, T. , Santos, M. , Soares, C. , Treviso, C. , Maestri, I. , Pinto, S. , Alves, C. , de Barros, L. , Buzetto, M. , Soares, G. , Trein, G. , Porto, A. , de Lima, B. , Merten, F. , Gomes, L. , Caron-Lienert, R. and Baron, M. (2023) Sepsis after Administering an Intramuscular Iron Injection in the Arm of an Elder Patient with Multiple Comorbidities: A Case Report. Journal of Biosciences and Medicines, 11, 158-165. doi: 10.4236/jbm.2023.115011.