Scientometric analysis of medicinal leech therapy
Research article published in Journal of Ayurveda and integrative medicine (2020)
Abstract
BACKGROUND: Hirudotherapy, also known as medicinal leech therapy, has been used to treat a wide range of disorders for thousands of years since Ancient Egypt. Leech therapy is also mentioned as a minimal invasive technique called Jalaukavacharana in the Sushruta Samhita, an ancient Sanskrit text of Ayurvedic medicine. Although hirudotherapy has become a popular component of complementary medicine in the last decade, scientometric studies investigating the articles published in this field, do not exist. OBJECTIVE: In this study, we aimed to perform a detailed scientometric analysis of hirudotherapy literature. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We collected data by using four databases provided by Web of Science using the keywords "hirudotherapy", "leech therapy", "medicinal leech" and "medicinal leech therapy". RESULTS: A total of 834 articles were found of which 89.8% were original articles. USA was the leading country with 280 publications, followed by UK, Germany and France (128, 101 and 41 items, respectively). The most productive countries regarding hirudotherapy were the UK (1.93), Slovenia (1.44), and Israel (1.32). The peak publication year for hirudotherapy literature was 2011 with 41 papers. CONCLUSION: To the best of our knowledge, our study was the first bibliometric and scientometric analysis in this field and we believe that multicenter studies and further searches from developing and least-developed countries are needed in hirudotherapy literature.
Abstract sourced from PubMed (NCBI) for the cited record. See the original publication for the authoritative version.
Resumen
Hirudotherapy, also known as medicinal leech therapy, has been used to treat a wide range of disorders for thousands of years since Ancient Egypt. Leech therapy is also mentioned as a minimal invasive technique called Jalaukavacharana in the Sushruta Samhita, an ancient Sanskrit text of Ayurvedic medicine.
Por qué esto importa para la hirudoterapia
Este estudio llevó a cabo lo que los autores describen como el primer análisis cienciométrico de la literatura sobre hirudoterapia, recopilando datos de cuatro bases de datos de Web of Science mediante palabras clave como "hirudotherapy", "leech therapy" y "medicinal leech", identificando 834 artículos con Estados Unidos a la cabeza en publicaciones totales (280) y un pico de producción en 2011. Para el ámbito de la ASH, este trabajo ofrece una útil panorámica bibliométrica del panorama de investigación en torno a la terapia con sanguijuela medicinal, ayudando a mapear los países más productivos, las tendencias de publicación y las lagunas en la base de evidencia, información que puede orientar las prioridades estratégicas para el desarrollo del campo. Los autores señalan la necesidad de estudios multicéntricos y de contribuciones más amplias por parte de países en desarrollo y menos desarrollados. Sin embargo, al tratarse de un análisis cienciométrico, el estudio caracteriza únicamente los patrones de publicación y no evalúa la eficacia clínica, los hallazgos mecanísticos ni la calidad científica de la investigación subyacente sobre hirudoterapia que cataloga.
Citación
Scientometric analysis of medicinal leech therapy.
Şenel E, Taylan Özkan A, Mumcuoglu K · Journal of Ayurveda and integrative medicine, 2020
Contexto clínico relacionado
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Añadido a la biblioteca ASH: March 18, 2026 · Última actualización del sitio: June 18, 2026