Medicinal Leeches - Hirudotherapy (Istanbul, Turkey)

Turkey’s Health Ministry has been planning to give Turkish hospitals authority to take up new traditional and complementary medicine practices, including blood-letting, in order to reduce medicine costs, minimize the addiction to chemical medication and fight against illegal activities done with the use of traditional medicines.

Hirudo medicinalis, the European medicinal leech, is one of several species of leeches used as "medicinal leeches".

Other species of Hirudo sometimes also used as medicinal leeches include H. orientalis, H. troctina, and H. verbana. The Asian medical leech is Hirudo manillensis, and the North American medical leech is Macrobdella decora.

Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Annelida
Class: Clitellata
Order: Hirudinida
Family: Hirudinidae
Genus: Hirudo
Species: H. medicinalis
Binomial name
Hirudo medicinalis

Medicinal leech therapy (also referred to as Hirudotherapy or Hirudin therapy) made an international comeback in the 1970s in microsurgery,[7][8] used to stimulate circulation to salvage skin grafts and other tissue threatened by postoperative venous congestion,[7][9] particularly in finger reattachment and reconstructive surgery of the ear, nose, lip, and eyelid.[8][10] Other clinical applications of medicinal leech therapy include varicose veins, muscle cramps, thrombophlebitis, and osteoarthritis, among many varied conditions.[11] The therapeutic effect is not from the small amount of blood taken in the meal, but from the continued and steady bleeding from the wound left after the leech has detached, as well as the anesthetizing, anti-inflammatory, and vasodilating properties of the secreted leech saliva.[2] The most common complication from leech treatment is prolonged bleeding, which can easily be treated, but more serious allergic reactions and bacterial infections may also occur.[2]

Because of the minuscule amounts of hirudin present in leeches, it is impractical to harvest the substance for widespread medical use. Hirudin (and related substances) are synthesised using recombinant techniques. Devices called "mechanical leeches" that dispense heparin and perform the same function as medicinal leeches have been developed, but they are not yet commercially available.


Video Title: Medicinal Leeches - Hirudotherapy (Istanbul, Turkey)

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