Comment by arcticbull
9 years ago
Read the link I included. It's an FDA approved treatment [1] particularly beneficial in limb transplants. FTL, blood pools in attached limbs before the network of blood vessels to recirculate it can form. The leeches extract that blood, preventing potential loss of the attached limb. Also, similarly, in skin grafts. And in lots of other diseases.
Maggots are used to remove necrotic tissues, because they consume it and leave living tissue untouched. Nasty, but quite effective.
Feel free to take a quick Google.
[1] http://www.nbcnews.com/id/5319129/ns/health-health_care/t/fd...
I worked in medicine for over a decade, I can confirm the use of maggots from sterile breeding programs and the effectiveness of wild maggots because I've documented it myself. If I had such a necrotic wound I would trust maggots implicitly and be thankful for them.
Would you mind explaining a bit more about the wild maggots part?
I wonder if this is something that could be used in a scarcity scenario, benefit vs risk of infection, etc..
The pieces of knowledge I learn on HN never ceases to amaze me.
> It's an FDA approved treatment
No, it's not. FDA approval only allowed Ricarimpex SAS to marketed as a "preamendment device". FDA approval does not make leeches a "treatment".
[1] https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/cdrh_docs/pdf4/k040187.pdf