Trial reportZeitschrift fur Rheumatologie2017
Comparison of the effectiveness of medicinal leech and TENS therapy in the treatment of primary osteoarthritis of the knee : A randomized controlled trial.
Trial report in Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Applications of leech therapy in medicine: a systematic review.Frontiers in medicine · 2024Pooled it
- Characterising the Features of 381 Clinical Studies Evaluating Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (TENS) for Pain Relief: A Secondary Analysis of the Meta-TENS Study to Improve Future Research.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2022Pooled it
- Dose-response effects of transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation for knee osteoarthritis: A systematic review and meta-analysis.Osteoarthritis and cartilage open · 2026Article
- [Concept for integrative pain treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee based on the evidence for conservative and complementary therapies].Schmerz (Berlin, Germany) · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
objectivesThe aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of leech therapy in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis in terms of duration of effectiveness and symptom relief and to compare these results with transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) therapy. MATERIAL AND
methodsThis study was designed as a prospective, single center, randomized, single-blind and parallel group study. A total of 90 patients were included in the study, 46 in the leech group and 44 in the TENS group. Primary outcome measures were changes of the pain scores in visual analogue scale (VAS) and Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) on the measurements day 0, 21 and 180. Secondary outcome measures were the changes in the sub-groups of the WOMAC scores. Five leeches were applied to the affected knee, once every week for 3 weeks.
resultsThe VAS pain score showed a similar decrease in both groups in the evaluation on day 21 (p < 0.001). The course of the change of the VAS pain score in both groups was similar in the comparisons between groups. Long-term benefits of the TENS therapy group were slightly more than the leech therapy group. All the sub-scores of WOMAC in both therapy groups showed a similar decrease (p = 0.819). Throughout the study this decrease was statistically significant in both groups (p < 0.001).
conclusionLeech therapy relieves symptoms in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee and is as effective as TENS therapy in the management of osteoarthritis of the knee. This treatment has the potential of being an additional or alternative therapy for the non-surgical management of osteoarthritis of the knee.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.