Safety of Moxibustion: A Systematic Review of Case Reports

Table 3

Adverse events associated with moxibustion.

Author/year/country	Cases age/sex	Disease treated	Moxibustion treatment	Adverse event	Practitioner	Follow-up	Causality
Zhang and Yang 2006, China	36 (F)	Dysmenorrhea	Indirect moxibustion with moxa box	Local allergy	Practitioner	Recovered (1 d)	Possible (1, 1, 0, 0, 0)
Feng and An 2005, China	66 (F)	Shoulder pain	NC^a	Local allergy	Practitioner	Recovered (1 d)	Certain (1, 1, 0, 1, 1)
Hou 2008, China	1 (F)	Right wrist pain	NC	Local allergy	Practitioner	Recovered	Certain (1, 1, 0, 1, 1)
Li and Liu 2000, China	28 (F)	Facial paralysis	Indirect moxibustion with moxa stick	Local allergy	Practitioner	Recovered	Certain (1, 1, 0, 1, 1)
Li and Liu 2008, China	32 (F)	NC	Stay in moxibustion room	Local allergy	NC	Recovered (3 d)	Possible (1, 0, 1, 0, 0)
	22 (F)	Menstrual abdominal pain	Indirect moxibustion with moxa stick	Local allergy	Practitioner	Recovered (7 d)	Certain (1, 1, 1, 1, 0)
Wang 1998, China	28 (F)	Dyspepsia	Moxibustion in a closed room	Full-body allergy	Self	Recovered (3 d)	Likely (1, 0, 1, 0, 1)
Li 2002, China	Newborns	NC	Spark moxibustion	Burn and infection	NC	NC	Certain^b (1, 1, 1, 0, 0)
Li 1989, China	18 (F)	Lower limb paralysis	Moxibustion with moxa stick	Burn	Practitioner	Recovered (40 d)	Certain (1, 1, 1, 0, 0)
Condé-Salazar et al. 1991, Spain	40 (M)	Tennis elbow	NC	Burn	Practitioner	NC	Certain (1, 1, 1, 0, 0)
Reinhart and Ruhs 1985, U.S.	2.5 (M)	Hyperthermia and seizures	Folk moxibustion	Numerous burns	Patient's father	Recovered (1 y)	Certain (1, 1, 1, 0, 0)
Fisman 2002, USA	38 (M)	Hepatic cirrhosis	NC	Lesion after burn	NC	NC	Certain (1, 1, 1, 0, 0)
Carron et al. 1974, U.S.	58 (M)	Cervical pain and spasm	Direct moxibustion	Burn	Practitioner	NC	Certain (1, 1, 1, 0, 0)
	62 (M)	Pain	NC	Burn	Self	NC	Certain (1, 1, 1, 0, 0)
Chau 2006, U.S.	53 (F)	Intermittent headaches	Scarring direct moxibustion	Cellulitis	Self	Recovered	Likely (1, 1, 1, 0, 0)
Chong et al. 1982, Korea	48 (F)	Arthritis	Moxa cauterization	Pasteurella multocida infection of the calf	NC	NC	Possible (1, 1, 0, 0, 0)
Choi et al. 2013, Korea	69 (M)	Insomnia	Jang-chim moxibustion	Pyogenic liver abscess	Practitioner	Recovered (22 d)	Unlikely (0, 1, 0, 0, 0)
Lee et al. 2008, Korea	78 (F)	Diabetes mellitus	Repeated moxibustion over 4 years	Spinal epidural abscess	Self	Recovered (170 d)	Possible (1, 0, 1, 0, 0)
Bardia et al. 2006, USA	66 (M)	NC	Moxibustion and cutting	Hepatitis C	Practitioner	NC	Unlikely (1, 0, 0, 0, 0)
Sternfeld et al. 1988, Israel	82 (F)	Hypochondrial pain	Indirect moxibustion combined with acupuncture and low-power laser exposure	Infection	Self	Recovered	Possible (1, 1, 0, 0, 0)
Cai 1999, China	26 (F)	Breech presentation	Moxibustion at BL67	Fetal death	Self	Fetal death	Possible (1, 0, 1, 0, 0)
Su 1999, China	1 (F)	Breech presentation	Moxibustion combined with chest-knee position therapy	Premature delivery	Self	Fetal death	Unlikely (1, 0, 0, 0, 0)
Wen et al. 2011, China	47 (F)	Chemotherapy after colorectal cancer surgery	Moxibustion with moxa stick	Nausea and vomiting	Practitioner	Recovered	Likely (1, 0, 1, 0, 1)
	51 (M)	Chemotherapy after lung cancer surgery	Moxibustion with moxa stick	Vomiting and insomnia	Practitioner	Recovered	Possible (1, 0, 1, 0, 0)
	68 (F)	Lung cancer complicated with pulmonary infection	Inhalation of moxa smoke	Cough	NC	Recovered	Likely (1, 0, 1, 1, 0)
Chen 1998, China	41 (F)	Facial paralysis	Direct moxibustion	Lower eyelid loose and ectropion	Practitioner	NC	Likely (1, 1, 1, 0, 0)
Yun et al. 2009, Korea	58 (M)	Abdominal pain	Moxibustion on the same site repeatedly 10 years	Basal cell carcinoma	NC	No recurrence (5 y)	Likely (1, 1, 1, 0, 0)
Ogata et al. 1992, Japan	29 (M)	Asthma	Moxibustion and acupuncture	Death	Practitioner	Death	Unlikely (1, 0, 0, 0, 0)

 ^a"NC": not clear.
^bAlthough the scores for these burn cases were less than 4, they were classified as “certain” because they had been directly observed to have been caused by moxibustion.