INFO - ACR: What are the risks of joint injections and aspirations?

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American College of Rheumatology

Joint Injection/Aspiration

Last Updated October 2003

" What are the risks of joint injections and aspirations?

Common side effects include allergic reactions (to the medicines injected

into joints, to tape or the betadine used to clean the skin, etc).

Infections are extremely rare complications of joint injections and occur

less than 1 time per 15,000 corticosteroid injections. Another uncommon

complication is " post-injection flare " - joint swelling and pain several

hours after the corticosteroid injection - which occurs in approximately one

out of 50 patients and usually subsides within several days. It is not known

if joint damage may be related to frequent corticosteroid injections.

Generally, repeated and numerous injections into the same joint/site should

be discouraged. Other complications, though infrequent, include

depigmentation (a whitening of the skin), local fat atrophy (thinning of the

skin) at the injection site and rupture of a tendon located in the path of

the injection. "

http://www.rheumatology.org/public/factsheets/injection.asp

Not an MD

I'll tell you where to go!

Mayo Clinic in Rochester

http://www.mayoclinic.org/rochester

s Hopkins Medicine

http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org