Leech therapy in Iranian traditional medicine.

Abstract

Leech therapy (LT) has a long history in medicine [1]. In Greek medicine, medicinal leech was first introduced by Hippocrates. However, the popularity of LT was reinforced by the ideas of Galen, who classified LT as an efficient procedure in medicine [2]. Nowadays, although it is not well accepted by modern medicine, LT is still used to treat venous congestion in the settings of microvascular replantation, reconstructive surgery, and traumatology [1]. On the other hand, new investigations on LT have presented its significant effect on different kinds of chronic diseases [3]. The major recommended mechanisms for LT are the anti-inflammatory, anticoagulant, analgesic, antimicrobial, and vasodilator effects as well as skin-wound healing of some enzymes, such as hirudin, calin, destabilase, bdellins, and eglins [4, 5]. In Iranian traditional medicine (ITM), LT was a common medical procedure. In Persian, the leech is called ‘Zaloo’, ‘Zard’, ‘Zardeh’ or ‘Divche’, and LT is called ‘Ersal-e-Alaq’ or ‘Zaloo Andakhtan’. It was believed that leeches drew blood from deeper sources than wet cupping [6–8]. This method is still in use by ITM practitioners and specialist physicians in ITM. In this study, we will report leeching procedures and those medical potentials which have already been used by ITM practitioners. Methods