Military Officer - August 2007 - (Page 67)

— but the small veins have not yet reestablished well enough to allow drainage of that blood, then the newly attached hand will swell with stagnant blood, increasing pressure and risking the loss of that limb,” Sherman explains. “Leeches can be used to efﬁciently remove the accumulating blood until the veins grow back together in a couple of days and do the job themselves.” Leech saliva contains both a painkiller and an anticoagulant, so patients rarely feel them as they work, says Dr. Douglas Chepeha, associate professor of head and neck surgery and director of microvascular surgery at the University of Michigan Hospital in Ann Arbor. They are also insatiable, drinking their ﬁll and almost doubling their size in a matter of minutes. Chepeha has used leeches on approximately 20 patients, most of whom had received an autogenous tissue transplant on their mouth, throat, or face. As with maggots, there is a huge ick factor with leeches, especially if they must be placed inside the mouth, but most patients agree because they know the treatment will help save the transplanted tissue. “Patients usually don’t feel anything, because the tissue has been newly transplanted so it doesn’t have any nerves yet,” Chepeha says. “That helps a lot.” The average leech can consume a teaspoon to half an ounce of blood be- fore it must be replaced, Chepeha says. Leeches cannot be recycled (blood is considered a contaminated tissue product), so they are killed humanely. New leeches are applied approximately every 20 minutes at ﬁrst, and less often as the transplanted tissue begins to heal. In most cases, leech therapy lasts about a week. “At $7 per leech, this therapy can be somewhat expensive, but the consequences of not having the treatment are more expensive,” says Chepeha. “This is not just a simple skin graft; it’s skin, fat, and sometimes underlying muscle. If we were to lose that, we’d have to completely redo the operation, and usually the results aren’t as good. So from that perspective, leech therapy is a good investment.” Worm therapy Strong evidence suggests the regular consumption of pig whipworm eggs can help control certain immunemediated ailments such as Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, disorders known collectively as irritable bowel disease (IBD). Clinical studies have found pig whipworms so effective at ridding people of IBD that a German company called BioCure plans to market a special worm-ﬁlled concoction once storage issues have been resolved, according to New Scientist magazine. Gastroenterologist Dr. Joel Weinstock of the University of Iowa found pig whipworms especially effective in curing symptoms of IBD such as abdominal pain, bleeding, and diarrhea. Among 200 test patients, the remission rate was 50 percent for those with ulcerative colitis and 70 percent for those with Crohn’s disease. Weinstock developed the therapy after noticing that a sharp increase in IBD in western countries over the past 50 years coincided with a decline in infections by parasites such as roundworms, New Scientist magazine reports. He theorizes that the human immune system evolved to cope with parasitic infections and can become overactive without them. MO A MENAGERIE OF MEDICINE Leeches, maggots, and pig whipworms aren’t the only critters being used medicinally, reports the Biotherapeutics Education and Research Foundation. Others include: Honeybees. The venom of honeybees contains anti-inflammatory substances that have been shown to alleviate the pain of arthritis, multiple sclerosis, and other diseases in some people. Fish. A handful of centers around the world offer “ichthyotherapy,” in which certain species of fish are used to treat wounds and skin conditions such as psoriasis. Though many people have found it beneficial, ichthyotherapy has received little objective scientific study. Dogs. As amazing as it sounds, dogs have proved uncannily accurate at detecting cancer in humans. They also have demonstrated the ability to detect seizures before they occur. Bats. Vampire bat saliva contains a powerful anticlotting agent called “desmoteplase,” which researchers at the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Stroke say could become another useful tool in the treatment of stroke. AUGUST 2007 MILITARY OFFICER 67

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Military Officer - August 2007

Military Officer - August 2007 Contents From the Editor From the President Your Views MOAA Directory Rapid Fire Washington Scene Financial Forum Ask the Doctor Chapter Activities Cover Story: No Longer in Reserve A Different Path Weird Science Charge? Pages of History Faces of MOAA Member Books Information Exchange Advertising Index MOAA Calendar MOAA Scholarship Donors Sounding Taps MOAA Member Services Encore

Military Officer - August 2007

For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.