In the woman’s acupuncture treatment, the needles, which were presumably made of gold, were intentionally left in her tissue for continued stimulation, the report says.
Still, leaving the needles, or any objects, in the body may not be such a good idea, according to Dr. Ali Guermazi, a professor of radiology at Boston University, who wasn’t involved with the case. Foreign objects left inside the body can lead to inflammation, abscesses and infection.
“The human body wants to get rid of the foreign object,” Guermazi said. “It starts with some mechanism of defense, for example inflammation and forming [fibrous tissue] around the object.”
Needles left in the body can lead to other challenges, too. “The patient can’t go into an MRI because needles left in the body may move, and damage an artery,” Guermazi said.
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