Why is leech therapy used

There is a small risk the bacteria could get into the body part and cause an infection. Children having leech therapy must be on antibiotics that will kill the bacteria.

Blood levels of children must be monitored while they are having leech therapy, and children may occasionally need a blood transfusion. Sometimes leeches do not want to attach to a body part. This can be because there are chemicals in the skin that the leeches do not like. The nurses and doctors will try to help the leech attach. Sometimes, even with leech therapy, the re-attached body part or graft may not survive. The re-attached part usually has no feeling, and the leech saliva has substances that prevent pain.

The biggest problem people have with leech therapy is that the leeches are not nice to look at. A polystyrene cup or covering can be placed over the leech so your child cannot see it.

Many children and young people who have leech therapy are very interested in the leeches and it is a great story to tell all their friends at school. Unfortunately the leeches contain human blood and cannot be used again. They are regarded as contaminated. When the therapy is finished, the leeches are put to sleep humanely. Leeches have been used medically for thousands of years — dating back to ancient Greece and Egypt when bloodletting was a common practice.

Practitioners of the time believed the removal of blood from a patient could prevent illness and cure disease. Sometimes crude instruments were used for bloodletting but more often, leeches were used. Clearly, modern clinicians do not support the practice of bloodletting.

However, many do believe the use of leeches in certain, very specific medical situations has the potential to save lives and limbs. Reattachment operations, skin grafts and reconstructive plastic surgeries for cancer and trauma often require microsurgical techniques — the use of a microscope and specialized instruments to attach tiny blood vessels with equally tiny sutures and needles.

Although these procedures are successful up to 98 percent of the time, in rare cases a flap or reattached body part may develop a dangerous complication called venous congestion. Venous congestion occurs when the tiny, thin-walled veins involved in microsurgical procedures are unable to carry the appropriate amount of blood away from the surgical site.

Instead, the blood pools in the veins and is unable to flow back to the heart and lungs to be re-oxygenated. In one five-year retrospective study, researchers found infections occurred in about 4 percent of people who received leech therapy. A vast majority of the about 20 adverse events related to leeches reported to the FDA since have involved infections after leech therapy or the identification of antibiotic-resistant Aeromonas by hospital staff in their leech stockpiles.

After quantifying the outcomes of hundreds of cases, they found 4. Currently, no consensus exists among the medical community for how long leeches should be applied for, or how many to use at once. But Thanik says he hopes his paper will help guide doctors presented with situations in which leech therapy could be useful but is not standard.

Currently, their use is more common at teaching hospitals and trauma centers, like Bellevue, where replantation and reconstructive surgeries are more regular.

A University of Michigan analysis of about 15, people who lost their fingers between and found that an increasing number of cases are transferred to urban teaching hospitals; there, they are more than twice as likely to be reattached at an average success rate of about 80 percent. The paper also noted people with private insurance or higher income levels were more likely to undergo finger replantation. Along the same lines, in , Reavey, Thanik, and other colleagues analyzed tens of thousands of finger amputation cases from to using information pulled from national databases.

This keeps blood flowing to wounds to help them heal. Currently, leech therapy is seeing a revival due to its simple and inexpensive means of preventing complications. Medicinal leeches have three jaws with tiny rows of teeth.

The leeches are then allowed to extract blood, for 20 to 45 minutes at a time, from the person undergoing treatment. This equates to a relatively small amount of blood, up to 15 milliliters per leech. Medicinal leeches most often come from Hungary or Sweden. There are several situations in which leech therapy may be used. People who may benefit include those who risk limb amputation due to the side effects of diabetes, those who have been diagnosed with heart disease, and those who are undergoing cosmetic surgery in which they risk the loss of some of their soft tissue.

The therapy has also been recommended to treat blood clots and varicose veins. People with anemia, blood clotting conditions, or compromised arteries are not candidates for leech therapy. Children under the age of 18 years old and women who are pregnant are also usually advised to avoid it. During a session, live leeches attach themselves to the target area and draw blood. They release the proteins and peptides that thin blood and prevent clotting. This improves circulation and prevents tissue death.

The leeches leave behind small, Y-shaped wounds that usually heal without leaving a scar. Leeches are effective at increasing blood circulation and breaking up blood clots. It should be no surprise that they can be used to treat circulatory disorders and cardiovascular disease. Clinical trials suggest that leech therapy is an appropriate treatment for the common joint disease osteoarthritis.

People with heart disease use leech therapy because of its potential to improve inflammation and blood flow. In the past few years, leech therapy has become an acceptable alternative therapy for people with vascular disease and disorders.