A Japanese woman was admitted to the hospital with shortness of breath after an acupuncture session, a traditional therapy involving the insertion of thin, long needles. A CT scan showed that her shortness of breath was caused by damage to the lining and collapse, or loss of volume, of her lungs — a condition called pneumothorax.
The woman was first reoxygenated using an oxygen mask, and then the excess air was removed from the cavity around her lungs, after which the patient fully recovered and was discharged from the hospital four days later. About the case told in the journal Oxford Medical Case Reports.
A 57-year-old Japanese woman was admitted to the hospital with a cough and shortness of breath two hours after an acupuncture session she had attended to relieve dizziness. The acupuncture was performed on both sides of her back, using 0,16-millimeter, three-centimeter needles inserted from the back of her neck to her lower back. On examination, the woman was conscious and showed no signs of confusion. The patient's respiratory rate was 28 breaths per minute, slightly above the normal range of 14-24 breaths, and she had elevated blood pressure of 148/89 millimeters of mercury, compared to a normal range of 120/80.
The woman's blood oxygen saturation was also below normal at 92 percent, and there was shallow breathing on both sides of her lungs, leading doctors to suspect damage to the lining of both lungs. A CT scan showed emphysema, or enlarged alveoli, in her left lung, which could have made breathing difficult.
As doctors note, pneumothorax is a fairly common complication of chest and back acupuncture, so doctors should be aware of this complication in order to more quickly diagnose patients presenting with difficulty breathing after acupuncture.
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