Adverse Events of Acupuncture: A Systematic Review of Case Reports

Table 9

Other complications associated with acupuncture (7 cases).

First author/year; (reference)	Country	Case age/sex	Disease treated	Puncture site	Complication	Followup time	Remarks
McCartney 2000 [93]	UK	52/M	LPB	LI4 (Hand)	Bilateral hand edema	Recovered; (in 8 wk)	No lab evidence of inflammation
Yanagihara 2000 [94]	Japan	55/F	Shoulder pain and lumbago	Back, hip, neck, legs and arms	Epithelioid granuloma at needling sites	Improved	Caused by silicone coating on needles
Kim 2002 [95]	Korea	37/F	Abdominal discomfort	Not state	Pseudolymphoma	Improved	CD-30 positive
Takeishi 2002 [96]	Japan	66/F	Arthralgia	Extremities	Localized argyria	Not stated	Embedded silver needles 20 y earlier
Murray 2002 [97]	UK	35/M	Tennis elbow	Arm	Pustules	Not stated	Pt has Behcet disease
Vassiou 2003 [98]	Greece	67/F	LBP	Chest & abdomen	Pancytopenia	Not stated	Embedded needles 17 y earlier
Pigatto 2004 [99]	Italy	36/F	Hyperthyroidism	St10 (neck)	Scars at needling site	No improvement	“Hot needle” used