Other reactions
Only one study in this review administered DMSO as eye-drops 114. In this study, two patients experienced severe conjunctival hyperemia due to allergic reactions, and 25% of patients experienced a stinging sensation when eye-drops were applied 114. Other studies performed eye examinations to determine whether DMSO caused changes in the lens; however, no such cases were observed 2, 45.
Hyponatremia occurred in six patients after they received large doses of DMSO as treatment for cranial hypertension 62. This adverse reaction was not reported in other studies ( Table 8).
Table 8.  Other adverse reactions observed per number of patients.
Adverse reaction  Studies  Total patients, n  Patients with reaction, n (%)  (min%–max%) †
Fever  [ 27, 71, 73, 77, 101]  547  44 (8)  (2–19) [ 27] - [ 77]
Chills  [ 27, 33, 70, 71, 81, 85, 101]  852  60 (7)  (1–31) [ 101] - [ 71]
Dizziness  [ 2, 46, 55, 85, 101]  885  18 (2)  (1–15) [ 55] - [ 2]
Weakness  [ 33, 45, 46]  293  19 (6)  (1–29) [ 46] - [ 45]
Sedation  [ 2]  78  34 (44)
Hyponatremia  [ 62]  6  6 (100)
†Incidences of the adverse reactions have been calculated for all the individual studies. (%, min-max) are the lowest and highest observed incidence of an adverse reaction observed in the group of studies included. Very few cases of serious adverse reactions associated with DMSO have been described 18, 36, 51, 59.
Overall, most studies administered DMSO intravenously or transdermally ( Table 9)
Table 9.  Way of administration of DMSO in included studies.
Administration  Number of studies  References
Intravenous  49  [ 7, 16, 18, 23, 25, 26, 33, 34, 36, 39– 41, 46– 48, 51, 53, 54, 56, 59, 61, 62, 65, 68, 70– 74,  77, 80, 81, 84– 87, 90, 91, 94, 98– 102, 104, 110, 115, 117, 118]
Transdermal  48  [ 2, 4, 6, 17, 19– 22, 24, 28– 32, 37, 42, 44, 45, 50, 52, 55, 57, 58, 63, 64, 66, 67, 69, 72, 75, 76, 78, 79,  82– 84, 88, 89, 93, 95, 96, 106– 109, 111– 113]
Intravesical  7  [ 8, 35, 38, 43, 49, 97, 105]
Oral  2  [ 9, 60]
Eye-drops  1  [ 114]
Local injection  1  [ 92]
Intra-articular  1  [ 103]
Rectal  1  [ 116]