CASE REPORTS

Case Report 1.

A 44-year old male patient was admitted to the emergency room with an avulsion of the pulps of the 4 fingers of his dominant hand (Fig. 1). The exposed distal phalanxes were covered with 4 digital island flaps (2 reversed and 2 direct) (Fig. 2 and 3). Venous congestion was seen one day post-operatively and leech therapy was initiated. Leeches were applied once daily for 3 days until the venous congestion was improved. Two months post-operatively the patient regained full function of his fingers/hand (Fig. 4) including a normal handwriting, allowing him to go back to his work as a schoolteacher [18].

 

Case Report 2.

An eight-year old girl was admitted to the emergency room with amputation of the pulp of the right dominant thumb, after a door was closed on her thumb 2 hours earlier (Fig. 5). The pulp was sutured back to the right thumb in the ER as a composite flap, but underwent gradual necrosis during the next 10 days with exposure of most of its distal phalanx.

To avoid skeletal shortening, a thumb reconstruction was performed, using a free flap taken from the lateral hemipulp of the ipsilateral big toe (Figs. 6 and 7). The free hemipulp flap was congested on post-operative day two, and it was treated with 1 leech daily for post-operative days two, three and four (Fig. 8). Under this treatment regimen, the flap congestion resolved, and the patient was discharged with a viable flap on post-operative day eleven. At 6 months, the function and sensory function of the thumb was normal (Fig. 9) allowing a normal handwriting [18].

Case Report 3.

81-year old female patient who received a graft after removal of tumor from her left chick. The appearance of the graft before and after treatment with leeches.

A. HISTORY
E. BIOLOGY
I. APPLICATION TO THE SKIN
M. CASE REPORTS
Q. MAINTENANCE IN THE CLINIC
V. EXTERNAL LINKS
B. LEECHES
F. THE SALIVA
J. THE BITE AND BITE REACTIONS
N. SIDE EFFECT
R. LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS
W. REFERENCES
C. MEDICINAL LEECHES
G. USE OF LEECHES IN MEDICINE
K. PROPHYLAXIS
O. CONTRAINDICATIONS
T. TRAINING COURSES
D. MORPHOLOGY
H. LEECHES IN PLASTIC SURGERY
L. TREATMENT
P. REMOVAL OF THE LEECHES
U. VETERINARY MEDICINE