Versicherungsmedizin. 2000 Mar; 52(1): 33-6.

[Subarachnoid hemorrhage as life-threatening complication of neural therapy. Case report]

Heyll U, Ziegenhagen DJ.

Abteilung Medizinische Beratung der Deutschen Krankenversicherung, KÃ¶ln.

In Germany, neural therapy is a frequently used method of complementary medicine. It is based on the hypothesis, that pathologically altered regions may cause symptoms in other, distant localizations and that this process can be interrupted by the local injection of anesthetic drugs. Since the pathogenetic acting regions are supposed to occur in any part of the body, neural therapy is not limited to superficial injections, but also includes injections into deep structures and internal organs. Supporters of this therapeutic approach always claim that these procedures are free of risk if carried out by an experienced therapist. We report the case of a young woman, who suffered subarachnoidal bleeding caused by an attempt to infiltrate the tonsilla pharyngea during a neural therapeutic treatment. The analysis of this incident shows that severe and even life threatening complications cannot be ruled out in all neural therapeutic injections, even if they are performed strictly according to the rules given in the textbooks of neural therapy.