Leech therapy in treatment of cardiovascular diseases

The aim of this review was to summarize the evidence on the effectiveness of leech therapy in treatment of cardiovascular diseases. This assessment is based on the analysis of results of clinical trials conducted in 2000-2015 and published in peer-reviewed literature indexed in PubMed, ISI Web of Science, Scopus, E-library.ru and E-library.kz databases. The paper presents a review of the current controlled and uncontrolled studies ensured evidence-based information about the effectiveness of leech therapy in the treatment and prevention of complications of coronary heart disease, hypertension, chronic heart failure and stroke. In discussion, we demonstrate the rationale for leech therapy from the evidence-based point of view. We conclude that the current evidence is considered sufficient for using leech therapy as a complementary method in treatment of cardiovascular diseases and prevention of their complications as a part of the conventional therapy. According to the official recommendations on the use of leech therapy in healthcare issued by the Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation from 2002, the list of indications for leech therapy include coronary heart disease, early stages of heart failure, cardiosclerosis, cardialgias, dyscirculatory encelopathy and arterial hypertension. However, leech therapy should not be used as a substitute for standard treatment schemes of the abovementioned conditions.