Originally posted by worldwatcher
A hundred years later and we're still using leeches. Isn't it amazing, how even though we progress thru the years, we seem to find our way back to the knowledge of our ancestors. At least now we are better informed and won't use the leeches for the wrong ailments.
FDA Approves Sale Of Leeches As Medical Devices
A French company is the first since 1976 to receive clearance to market leeches as medical devices in the United States.
For many people, leeches conjure up the image of Humphrey Bogart removing the bloodsuckers from his body in the film "The African Queen."
But leeches have been used as an alternative treatment to bloodletting and amputation for several thousand years. They reached their height of medicinal use in the mid-1800s.
Today, they are used in medicine throughout the world as tools in skin grafts and reattachment surgery. By removing pooled blood, leeches can help heal skin grafts and restore blood circulation in blocked veins.
Actually medical leeches are nothing new. We have been using them in the PICU for limb reattchment for years now. They are sterile, and thought though they look like slugs they are fast. They attach and suck up about 5 Ml's of blood. then drop off. The benifit is not really in the blood that is sucked off, but the chemicals the leech secretes that anestitise the area and keep the blood flowing.
