Department Blog

Posted 6/27/2017 by Linda Kesselring

Acupuncture Needle Fragments: An Incidental Finding

Joshua McClain, MD, and Zachary D.W. Dezman, MD, published a case report, “Japanese Immigrant with Abdominal Pain,” in the June issue of the Journal of Emergency Medicine (53[6]:e249-50). The patient's pain was presumably caused by a reflux condition, but radiographic evaluation incidentally revealed dozens of needle fragments in her subcutaneous tissues, left intentionally by a practitioner of Hari acupuncture.