Effects of Hirudotherapy on Intravascular Thrombosis Activation in Different Cerebrovascular Pathologies

In spite of a wide range of antithrombotic agents, the common antiaggregants are not always effective in the clinical practice. In the available literature there are no clinical data on the eff ects of leech secretion on intravascular thrombosis activation process and the eff ectiveness of hirudotherapy in patients with cerebrovascular pathologies. 53 patients with cerebrovascular diseases (chronic vertebrobasilar insufficiency, ischemic encephalopathy stage I, previous ischemic stroke, and hemodynamically signifi cant stenosis and/or occlusion of the internal carotid artery) received 10 sessions of hirudotherapy. Morphological and functional thrombosis assessment by phase contrast microscope was carried out twice: before and after the course of hirudotherapy. Baseline thrombocyte activation was increased in 52 of 53 patients in our study. More signifi cantly increased intravascular thrombocyte activation was observed in the group of patients with a history of ischemic stroke. The course of hirudotherapy normalized most of the pathological changes of intravascular thrombocyte activation in 44 of 52 patients. Hirudotherapy seems an efficient method for correcting pathological changes of intravascular thrombocyte activation that does not dependon the severity of the disease and ischemic stroke.