Doctors in China were shocked to discover an elderly man’s lung had seemed to disappear in an X-ray scan.
The patient was apparently feeling unwell and had to be taken to the hospital after having cupping therapy.
Doctors later claimed that the patient’s right lung had collapsed and he had to undergo surgery.
An X-ray scan shows that Mr Wu’s right lung collapsed after having a cupping therapy at home
According to Kan Kan News, the patient, Mr Wu, has had bronchitis for over 10 years.
It’s reported that his wife gave him a cupping session at home in Wuhan, Hubei Province on November 7.
He believed that the therapy could cure his cold.
However, he appeared pale after the session and had to be taken to the Wuhan Central Hospital.
Mr Wu, in pink top, felt unwell after the cupping session, believing that it can cure cold
Doctors said the Chinese medicine regime had made the patient’s lung vulnerable by pressure
Dr Xu Di, a specialist of cardiothoracic surgery, said 70 per cent of Mr Wu’s right lung had been compressed.
‘It can be considered as a collapsed lung. If the patient did not receive treatment in time, he may suffer breathing difficulties and lost of consciousness,’ he said.
Surgeons immediately conducted surgery on Mr Wu to repair his lung.
Dr Hao Jianbo, from Hubei Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine, told the reporter that the cupping therapy had turned the patient’s lung very vulnerable.
The pressure caused by cupping could cause blebs, air-filled sacs formed on the surface of the lung, to ‘pop’ or rupture, resulting in pneumothorax.
‘For patients with pulmonary disease, we do not suggest them to have cupping therapy,’ said Dr Hao.
Mr Wu had had an emergency surgery to repair his right lung at Wuhan Central Hospital
Cupping dates back to 1550 BC, when a medical text describes the therapy as an Egyptian fad that became popular in Greece, Eastern Europe and the Middle East, and most notably in China