Adverse Events of Acupuncture: A Systematic Review of Case Reports

Table 7

Heart injuries associated with acupuncture (5 cases).

First author/year (reference)	Country	Cases age/sex	Disease treated	Punctured site	Complication	Onset after acupuncture	Practitioner	Followup
Kirchgatterer 2000 [82]	Austria	83/F	Not stated	Sternum	Cardiac tamponade	20 min	Experienced acupuncturist	Recovered (2 wk)
Park 2004 [83]	Korea	49/F	Shoulder pain	Shoulders and upper back	Cardiac tamponade	2 h	Not specified	Recovered; (after surgery)
Kim 2006 [84]	Korea	70/M	Chronic lung disease	Neck, chest, and abdomen (embed needles)	Right ventricular embolism	1 y	Not specified	Not stated
Song 2010 [85]	Korea	69/F	Pain	Shoulders and neck (implanted needles)	Myocardium injury	10 y	Traditional medicine practitioner	Unknown
Kim 2011 [57]	Korea	54/f	Myalgia and dyspepsia	Chest, abdomen	Hemopericardium	30 min	Unauthorized acupuncturist	Recovered (6 d)