Acupuncture with Gold for Knee Osteoarthritis

I have treated thousands of patients with knee arthritis and never heard of gold acupuncture as an option.  In the most recent issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, a case report discusses the topic.

Gold Acupuncture Knee X-ray

From the NEJM, 2013, See Link Below

Apparently, this form of treatment is common in some Asian countries.  As you can see from the x-ray above, it looks like a a bunch of pine needles or staples have invaded the knee.  I do not know of any data supporting this type of approach but it does make for a very interesting x-ray.

Here is a link to the New England Journal of Medicine Case Report:

http://www.nejm.org/doi/pdf/10.1056/NEJMicm1202540

Yoo and Yoo NEJM 2013

Please post any comments or links to data about this topic below.

AM