Pakar bedah biasanya telah penghubungan sukar sedikit dua hujung arteri kecil, sejak arteri adalah tebal berdindingkan dan agak mudah untuk menjahit. Bagaimanapun, urat-urat adalah nipis berdindingkan, rapuh, dan sukar untuk menjahit. Pakar bedah mungkin oleh itu mendapat darah mengalir masuk reattached arteri tetapi bukan dalam urat-urat. Dengan edaran yang vena dikompromikan dengan teruk, pemergian darah pada reattached bahagian badan menjadi sesak dan bertakung. Reattached bahagian pusing warna biru dan mati dan adalah dalam bahaya menjadi kehilangan. Ia adalah kemudian lintah-lintah itu adalah dipanggil merawat mengancam kekurangan yang vena, tetapi hanya apabila terdapat aliran arteri mencukupi.
Terapi lintah kontemporari telah dipelopori oleh doktor-doktor bedah, M Derganc dan F Zdravic, yang bercetak sebuah kertas pada 1960 menggambarkan penggunaan lintah-lintah bagi membantu dalam tisu mengibaskan pembedahan — pembedahan di mana satu kibasan kulit yang dilepaskan atau memutarkan daripada satu kawasan badan yang berhampiran bagi meliputi satu kerosakan atau kecederaan. Alasan mereka di belakang penggunaan lintah-lintah telah didasarkan satu harta unik bagi gigitan lintah, yakni, penciptaan satu luka pancit yang berdarah berjam. Untuk maklumat yang berkaitan untuk harta lintah-lintah, melihat: Hirudin.
Hirudin: Satu antikoagulan (”bloodthinner”). Hirudin adalah prinsip aktif dalam rembesan air liur lintah-lintah. Nama hirudin adalah daripada Hirudo medicinalis, nama lintah berubat.
Pada 1884 John Haycraft di Strasbourg mendapati lintah-lintah mengandungi satu bahan dengan ciri-ciri antikoagulan. Antikoagulan dalam liur lintah telah terpisah dalam 1950s dan mendapati menjadi satu antitrombin (satu perencat trombin). Struktur kimia rendah hirudin telah ditentukan pada 1976.
Ubat-ubat antikaogulan desirudin dan lepirudin (jenama: Refludan) sedang diatur secara genetik recombinant bentuk-bentuk hirudin.
Leeches can be used in many applications especially for medical and cosmetic purpose. Traditional use of leeches is by letting the leech to suck blood of the patient’s body to relief symptoms like headache and join pain. Leech oil is known to the local community for enhancing the sex capability of man. In India, it is used for preventing hair loss. Chinese medicine use leech as and ingredient for various treatments. Modern medicine uses the ingredient extracted from leech to cure blood related diseases. Leeches have been used for medical purposes since over 2000 years ago. One example is using leeches to suck out the blood in the body to achieve the healing purpose. Today there is a real clinical application in this method; they are of great value to plastic surgeons when venous congestion of skin and muscle flaps is a problem. The leech can suck the blood at the joint where blood is clogged and make it flow again. Leeches today are used in plastic and reconstructive surgery worldwide. There is also successful ongoing research into relieving symptoms of osteoarthritis by using leech.
One bigger progress in using leeches in medical field is that they have been approved in America for use in therapy purposes. Live leech are being distributed to various location in the country and also worldwide for use. After sucking the blood, leeches are treated in the same way as other blood treatment procedure that they only can be used on the same patient. This is mainly to prevent the spreading of disease that carried by blood.
Other usage of leeches also includes treatment of black eyes. Hirudin, the anti-coagulant from leech can be used in the treatment of inflammation of the middle ear. It is also being developed for experimental use as a systemic anticoagulant, and may prove useful in invitro blood sampling. By extracting the anti-clotting serum from the leech researchers are isolating new pharmaceutical compounds for eventual treatment of heart diseases.
From the history, leech was indispensable in 19th Century medicine for bloodletting, a practice believed to be a cure for anything from headaches to gout. The medicinal leech is getting more popular in modern medicine thanks to the work of Dr. Roy Sawyer, an American scientist who established the world’s first leech farm.
Thousands of patients owe the successful reattachment of body parts to technological advances in plastic and reconstructive surgery; at least some of these operations might have failed if leeches had not been reintroduced into the operating room.
The reason for using leeches in surgical procedures is actually very straightforward. The key to success is from what contain in the leech bite, which punctures a wound that bleeds literally for hours. The leech’s saliva contains substances that anaesthetize the wound area, dilate the blood vessels to increase blood flow, at the same time prevent the blood from clotting. Usually the surgeon can get blood to flow in the reattached arteries but not veins. With the venous circulation severely compromised, the blood going to the reattached finger becomes congested; the reattached portion turns blue and lifeless and is at serious risk of being lost. At this time leeches start to play their major role in letting go of the clotting blood.
Leech farming is an industry that is getting more popular as more leech usage has been established. One reason is also due to the number of leeches getting lesser in the wild, after the heavy usage of insecticide and pesticide. More researches are on going in discovering the uses of leech that can help us to cure the blood related problem such as heart diseases and also high cholesterol in our body. The role of leech will change from a blood sucking creature that is feared by many people to a great helper in our health.
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