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Review Papers | Medical Surgical | India | Volume 13 Issue 1, January 2024
Leech Therapy and its Efficacy in Management of Non-Healing Ulcers - A Review
Dr. Mohammed Maaz Zakariyya | Dr. Mohd Ahsan Farooqui | Dr. M. A. Lateef Siddiqui | Dr. Shahbaz Ahmed [2]
Abstract: Leech therapy is one of the most important and widely practised methods of regimental therapy used for local evacuation of morbid humours way back 3500 years also it has been suggested and successfully practiced by Greeko-Arab physicians, eminent Unani physician Ibn e Sina stated in his treatise Al Qanoon fit Tib that ?Leeches evacuate blood from the deeper tissues compared to Hijama?, He mentioned its efficacy such as ear, eyes, throat and skin disorders and also plays a vital role in healing of chronic non-healing ulcers, musculoskeletal diseases, thromboembolic diseases etc. According to Unani doctrine, the efficacy of leech therapy is attributed to the analgesic and resolvent activities of leeches. However, the saliva of leech contains about 100 pharmacologically active biological substances like Hirudin, hyaluronidase etc which are vasodilators, anesthetics, anti-inflammatory etc. These substances are injected into human body while sucking the blood these properties are responsible for the analgesic, anti-inflammatory and anesthetic effects of leech therapy. Leech therapy involves an initial bite, which is usually a painless bite, followed by the sucking of 5 to 15 ml of blood. Leech therapy is also used for evacuation from the parts where Hijama and Fasd cannot be applied. In Chronic Ulcers, wound healing is a combination of Regeneration and Repair of surrounding parenchymal tissues, which includes Angiogenesis and Granulation tissue formation, these things are accelerated by the components present in Leech Saliva, by inhibiting Thrombin, Platelet aggregation and fibrinolysis.
Keywords: Leech therapy, Chronic wounds, Wound healing
Edition: Volume 13 Issue 1, January 2024,
Pages: 146 - 151