Extra-long acupuncture needles led to pneumothorax: case
The patient, who ironically was a chest physician, underwent the therapy for stiff shoulders
A doctor who specialises in chest medicine was left with a bilateral pneumothorax, after needles used during acupuncture for stiff shoulders penetrated her pleura, Japanese doctors report.
The doctor had a low BMI of 16.9 and an ultrasound later revealed the distance between the epidermis and pleura at the attachment of the suprascapular angle of the levator scapulae muscle was just 22mm, say doctors from the Keio University School of Medicine in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo.
