Medicinal leech therapy is an ancient craft that dates back to ancient Egypt and the beginnings of civilisation. The popularity of Hirudo Medicinalis has varied throughout history, reaching such a peak in Europe in the early 19th century that supplies were exhausted. During the latter half of the 19th century, their use fell out of favour, as they did not fit in with the emerging concepts of mo...

INTRODUCTION Ayurveda, the Indian system of medicine comprises of eight different sp cialties in which Shalyatantra, the surgical school of thoughts has got prime impo tance. Acharya Sushruta, (Su.Su.33/4 father of surgery has considered (haemorrhoids) in Ashta-mahagada major diseases). The incidence of h rhoids is common among all economical classes of population. Though the disease is within ...

Sir, The ingenious article by Rastogi and Chaudhari was indeed interesting. [1] Hirudo medicinalis (medical leech) has been used in ancient medicine for various ailments. In recent years, leeches have been making a remarkable re‑emergence in medical practice, especially in reconstructive microsurgery to relieve venous congestion and to improve the microrevascularization of flaps, grafts, or rep...

Nevus of Ota is a congenital blue-gray color nevus afflicting unilaterally, the area near the eyes. It poses a huge cosmetic concern besides being a potential threat for developing melanoma sometime in the course of the disease. The treatment options are neither many nor promising besides they are too expensive. We have treated a case of nevus of Ota with leech therapy where leech was applied u...

BACKGROUND Leeches are a well-recognized treatment for congested tissue. This study reviewed the efficacy of leech therapy for salvage of venous congested flaps and congested replanted or revascularized hand digits over a 2-year period. METHODS All patients treated with leeches between 1 Oct 2010 and 30 Sep 2012 (two years) at Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK were included in the stud...

Background: More than 650 types of leech have been recognized in the world that 50 types of these nutrition of blood mammals. So far in the different Nations Pharmacopeia  not registered drug  for treatment of complications with leech in the world .Chamomile is one of the most widely used and well-documented medicinal plants in the world which used for treatment of anti -spasmodic ,anti-inflamm...

Medicinal leech therapy is a form of complementary medicine that has long been practised and gaining popularity in recent years for various illnesses surgical applications. However, saliva contains proteins with anticoagulant properties can lead to prolonged bleeding from the bite area. We report case 35-year-old male who presented Emergency Department due leech-bite wound. He did not have any ...

Considering blood-sucking habits of leeches from surviving strategy of view, it can be hypothesized that leech saliva has analgesia or anesthesia functions for leeches to stay undetected by the host. However, no specific substance with analgesic function has been reported from leech saliva although clinical applications strongly indicated that leech therapy produces a strong and long lasting pa...