Improving Symptoms of Peripheral Artery Disease With Hirudotherapy

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. Critical limb ischemia is a complication of PAD that leads to severe pain at rest, numbness, and absent or diminished pulses in the legs or feet. Revascularization with surgery or endovascular intervention is required to re-establish blood flow to the affected areas. Failure to respond to medical and/or surgical treatment can lead to amputations. The decision to amputate one's limb can be very challenging. Here, we report a patient with critical limb ischemia who refused a below-the-knee amputation and self-treated with medicinal leech therapy, or hirudotherapy. His symptoms including his pain, burning, and numbness improved significantly following six months of therapy.

Abstract sourced from PubMed (NCBI) for the cited record. See the original publication for the authoritative version.

A patient with critical limb ischemia who refused below-the-knee amputation self-treated with medicinal leech therapy for six months, after which his pain, burning and numbness improved significantly, as illustrated by this case report.

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