When physicians examined an X-ray image of the knees of a South Korean woman experiencing severe joint pain, they found a gold mine, literally. The image revealed hundreds of tiny gold acupuncture needles stuck inside the woman's tissue which had been causing her discomfort.
The 65-year-old woman had been diagnosed previously with osteoarthritis, a condition characterized by the degradation of cartilage and bones within the joints resulting to stiffness and pain.
When pain relievers and anti-inflammatory drugs failed to alleviate the pain in her joints and resulted to stomach discomfort, the South Korean woman sought acupuncture as her last resort, the doctors wrote in the New England Journal of Medicine.
Acupuncture is an alternative therapeutic method that makes use of needles to purportedly stimulate stimulate certain areas on the body, to relieve pain and to cure various diseases.
In the 65-year-old woman's acupuncture treatment, the needles, which were assumed to be made of gold, were intentionally left in her knees for continued stimulation, according to the doctors' report.
The needles may have caused more harm than good, however, according to Dr. Ali Guermazi, a Boston University professor who specializes in radiology.
Leaving the needles or any other object inside the human body could lead to abscesses, inflammation and infection and is never a good idea, said the professor who was not involved directly in the South Korean woman's case.
Objects in the tissues could make it difficult for doctors to read the X-ray image, added Dr. Guermazi who emphasized that "the needles may obscure some of the anatomy."
"The human body wants to get rid of the foreign object," the Boston University professor explained. "It starts with some mechanism of defense, for example inflammation and forming [fibrous tissue] around the object."
"The patient can't go into an MRI because needles left in the body may move, and damage an artery," he added.
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