Controversy: hirudotherapy (leech therapy) as an alternative treatment for osteoarthritis
Gunawan F, Wibowo YR, Bunawan NC, Turner JH (2015) · Acta Medica Indonesiana · n=0
Характеристика исследования
- Дизайн
- narrative review article on the role of hirudotherapy in osteoarthritis management (Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Atma Jaya, Jakarta, Indonesia)
- Размер выборки (n)
- —
- Вмешательство
- Discussion of hirudotherapy as an alternative or complementary treatment for OA in the context of AAOS-recommended pharmacologic options (acetaminophen, NSAIDs, tramadol, capsaicin, corticosteroids)
- Компаратор
- Conceptual comparison to AAOS-recommended pharmacologic options with attention to long-term side-effect profile
- Первичная конечная точка
- Qualitative assessment of hirudotherapy efficacy and safety in osteoarthritis
- Основной результат
- Hirudotherapy described as a therapeutic modality with purported analgesic and anti-inflammatory properties, presented as one of several investigational alternatives motivated by long-term safety concerns with NSAIDs and other pharmacologic OA treatments
- Длительность наблюдения
- not applicable (review)
- PMID
- 26260562
Ключевые выводы
- Indonesian academic review introducing hirudotherapy as an alternative to AAOS-recommended pharmacologic OA treatments
- Frames hirudotherapy within the context of concerns about long-term NSAID, acetaminophen, and corticosteroid side-effects
- Synthesizes purported analgesic and anti-inflammatory mechanisms of leech saliva
- Useful international reference for the position of hirudotherapy in OA management outside the European tradition
- Notes ongoing need for higher-quality investigative work to establish leech therapy in OA practice
Ограничения
- Narrative review only - no systematic search, quality grading, or quantitative synthesis
- Short paper in a regional journal - limited depth on individual trials
- Includes general mechanistic discussion that is not primary evidence
- No GRADE rating
- Cites earlier trials without independent quality assessment
Клиническое значение
Gunawan 2015 provides an Indonesian academic-medicine framing of hirudotherapy as one of several alternative OA treatments to be considered given long-term NSAID concerns. The review's principal value is as international context: it shows that the European leech-OA literature has received critical engagement in Southeast Asian academic medicine. For ASH editorial purposes, this review is cited only as contextual evidence of cross-cultural interest in hirudotherapy as an OA option, not as primary evidence. Effect-size estimates and recommendations should continue to draw on underlying RCTs and meta-analyses (Lauche 2014, Wang 2018).
Связанные исследования
Effectiveness of leech therapy in osteoarthritis of the knee: a randomized, controlled trial
Michalsen A, Klotz S, Lüdtke R, Moebus S, Spahn G, Dobos GJ (2003)
Leech therapy for symptomatic treatment of knee osteoarthritis: results and implications of a pilot study
Michalsen A, Moebus S, Spahn G, Esch T, Langhorst J, Dobos GJ (2002)
Effectiveness of topical gel of medical leech (Hirudo medicinalis) saliva extract on patients with knee osteoarthritis: a randomized clinical trial
Shakouri A, Adljouy N, Balkani S, Mohamadi M, Hamishehkar H, Abdolalizadeh J, Kazem Shakouri S (2017)
Randomised controlled trial with medical leeches for osteoarthritis of the knee
Stange R, Moser C, Hopfenmueller W, Mansmann U, Buehring M, Uehleke B (2012)