Controversy: Hirudotherapy (Leech Therapy) as an Alternative Treatment for Osteoarthritis

Authors

  • Felicia Gunawan Faculty of Medicine Universitas Atma Jaya, Jakarta, Indonesia.
  • Yossico R Wibowo Faculty of Medicine Universitas Atma Jaya, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Nur C Bunawan Faculty of Medicine Universitas Indonesia, Jakarta, Indonesia
  • Jesse H Turner Department of General Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, United States of America

Abstract

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most common degenerative joint disease found in the elderly. Drug options that are recommended by the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeon (AAOS) are acetaminophen, NSAIDs, tramadol, capscaicin and intraarticular corticosteroids. However, there is concern for the possible side effects resulting from long term use of those medications. Researchers are searching for a safer treatment modality for OA. Leech therapy (hirudotheraphy) is one of the therapies under investigation, given its purported analgesic and antiinflammatory properties. Key words: osteoarthritis, hirudotherapy, leech therapy, NSAIDSs, elderly, alternative terapy.

Downloads

How to Cite

Gunawan, F., Wibowo, Y. R., Bunawan, N. C., & Turner, J. H. (2016). Controversy: Hirudotherapy (Leech Therapy) as an Alternative Treatment for Osteoarthritis. Acta Medica Indonesiana, 47(2). Retrieved from http://actamedindones.org/index.php/ijim/article/view/55

Issue

Vol. 47 No. 2 (2015)

Section

CLINICAL PRACTICE

License

Copyright

The authors who publish in this journal agree to the following requirements:

  1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a  Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0) that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
  2. Authors can enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
  3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) before and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work. (See The Effect of Open Access)

Privacy Statement

The names and email addresses entered in this journal site will be used exclusively for the stated purposes of this journal and will not be made available for any other purpose or to any other party.