Use of the medicinal leech in the treatment of ear diseases

Medicinal leeches (Hirudo medicinalis) and the native secretion of their salivary glands diluted with saline (5 times) were successfully used for the treatment of some ear diseases: tinnitus caused by inner-ear affections, acute external otitis and chronic otitis media. The effect of diluted leech saliva injected into the region of the mastoid process by microelectrophoresis was 25-30% lower than that of the medicinal leeches.

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

Medicinal leeches (Hirudo medicinalis) and the native secretion of their salivary glands diluted with saline (5 times) were successfully used for the treatment of some ear diseases: tinnitus caused by inner-ear affections, acute external otitis and chronic otitis media.

Узнайте, как это исследование связано с клинической практикой

More peer-reviewed studies in Фармакология секрета слюнных желёз.

• Novel Leech Antimicrobial Peptides — Hirunipins — Kumar et al. (2025)
• 434 Salivary Proteins — Integrated Proteomics of Hirudo medicinalis — Liu et al. (2019)
• Medicinal Leech Genome Assembly — Anticoagulant Gene Catalog — Kvist et al. (2020)
• Draft Genome of Hirudo medicinalis — BMC Genomics — Kvist S et al. (2020)
• Hirudin Disrupts Breast Cancer CTC Clusters — Anti-Metastatic Potential — Research team (2025) (2025)
• Novel CRA Protein from Hirudo medicinalis — Complement Regulation — Research team (2025) (2025)
• Hirunipin-2 — Second-Generation Leech Antimicrobial Peptide — Kumar et al. (2025)
• Comparative Transcriptomics of Three Hirudo Species — Babenko VV et al. (2020)
• Effects of hirudotherapy on liver functions, lipid profile, and insulin sensitivity in rats with metabolic syndrome — Bilden A et al. (2026)
• Efficacy and Safety of Hirudotherapy for Improving Sperm Quality Parameters in Male Infertility: A Randomized Controlled Trial — Abtahi-Forooshani M et al. (2026)