Late-onset sepsis and encephalopathy after bicycle-spoke injury: a case report

BACKGROUND: Bicycle-spoke injuries rarely cause late complications of infection, including sepsis and sepsis-associated encephalopathy, with appropriate treatments. CASE PRESENTATION: We experienced a 2-year-old girl who developed the signs of encephalopathy with fever 6 months after a spoke-injury. On admission, the injured skin was inflamed with cellulitis. The blood culture was positive for methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus. Electroencephalogram showed diffuse slow-wave activity. Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging detected a high-intensity lesion with decreased diffusivity at the right frontal cortex. She received immunoglobulin and combined antibiotics treatments in the intensive care unit, and successfully overcame the sepsis-associated encephalopathy without neurological impairments. CONCLUSION: This is the first report demonstrating that sepsis and its associated encephalopathy occurs in a remote period after the bicycle-spoke injury.