Skin Flap Failure and Leeches

Paper Summary:

The aim of this paper is to determine if the age-old medicinal use of leeches can be used to assist in saving skin flap failure. The paper reviews and discusses the medicinal practice of bloodletting, a practice that has been used since the Stone Age. The objective of this paper is to perform a critical, qualitative review of literature on quantitative research regarding skin flap procedures, the use of leeches in the medical field, and specifically the use of leeches used in conjunction with skin flap procedures. In this way, the paper hopes to prove that leeches can indeed be a valuable tool in saving skin flap failure.

Table of Contents:
Abstract
Introduction
Preliminary Literature Review
Medicinal Leeches Overview
Skin Flap Overview
Medicinal Leeches Used in Skin Flap Procedures
Methodology
Method
Results
Analysis
Discussion
Conclusion
Recommendations
Figures and Tables
Figure 1: Depiction of leeching, by Willem van den Bossche in, Historia Medica (Bruxellae, 1639).
Figure 2: Medicinal Leech Passive Bleeding vs. Mechanical Device
Figure 3: LDF data for the control, outlet and leech groups over the course of Cottler et al.'s research.
Figure 4: Leech treatment
Figure 5: Average Surviving Area of Flaps
Figure 6: Mind Map
Table 1: Identification of Themes for Research Regarding the Use of Leeches in Skin Flap Survival
Table 2a: Summary Grid
Table 2b: Summary Grid
Table 2b: Summary Grid
Table 2c: Summary Grid

From the Paper:

"The research included the qualitative review of relevant literature. Identification of relevant literature was conducted through the use of electronic and hand searches, for published articles or reports concerning the use of leeches and skin flap procedures. In addition, the author also reviewed table of contents of scholarly medical journals. Scholarly journals as well as Internet sites run by medical organizations or offering articles written by medical professionals were searched. The author used a list of Boolean conditional keyword phrases to perform the literature search. These search terms allowed the author to quickly and easily identify the literature that was most likely to be relevant to the topic at hand. The first portion of the literature review identified all literature regarding these topics, while the second portion focused on research studies that employed quantitative methods in their results. Bibliographies from these identified literature pieces were then hand searched for additional references to appropriate pieces of literature."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Benner, P. (1985). Quality of life: A phenomenological perspective on explanation, prediction, and understanding in nursing science. Advances in Nursing Science, 8(1), pp. 1-14.
• Bloodletting. (31 Jan 2002). Retrieved October 30, 2006, from http://www.library.ucla.edu/libraries/biomed/his/blood/index.html.
• Connor. (Jul/Aug 2002). Augmented blood removal after medicinal leech feeding in congested tissue flaps. Journal of Rehabilitative Research & Development, 39(4). Retrieved October 29, 2006, from VARD.org database.
• Cooper, H. (1998). Synthesizing research: A guide for literature review. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
• Cottler, P. & Skalak, T. (Aug 2001). Development of a clinically useful mechanical leech device that promotes flap survival in an animal model of venous-congested skin flaps. Annals of Plastic Surgery, 47(2). Retrieved October 30, 2006, from Ovid database.

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