Causes of stroke after cupping at home

Regarding this case, Dr. Ta Vuong Khoa, head of the vascular intervention team, Neurological Intervention Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, Military Hospital 175 (HCMC), said that the patient had a habit of asking relatives to do cupping at home whenever he had back pain or neck pain. The most recent time was the afternoon before the stroke, and traces of the cupping tool were still imprinted on the skin of the patient's left neck. The patient was admitted to Military Hospital 175 in a state of lethargy, complete loss of speech, and complete paralysis of the right side of the body.

At the hospital, the patient was diagnosed with a second-hour left hemisphere ischemic stroke due to occlusion of the left internal carotid artery and left middle cerebral artery due to thrombosis. After nearly 1 hour of effort, the damaged blood vessels were cleared and repaired, and the patient's brain was reperfused. 10 days after the intervention, the patient's cognitive language function fully recovered, with only a few motor language function deficits remaining and he is currently undergoing speech therapy and rehabilitation.

According to Dr. Ta Vuong Khoa, in the above patient's case, cupping was the direct cause of internal carotid artery dissection. Military Hospital 175 has received stroke patients, including critical stroke cases, due to trauma causing dissection of the neck artery, both the internal carotid artery and the vertebral artery after the "neck cracking" movement of the barber, massage therapist... or simply after excessive neck rotation, bending and flexion movements of the patient himself.

"Every citizen needs to equip themselves with knowledge and raise awareness to protect themselves, their health and their lives. Risks and accidents are sometimes not far away but are lurking right in daily life, so we should not be subjective and ignore them," Dr. Khoa advised.