Medicinal leeches in the postoperative care of bladder exstrophy.

This article reports the use of medicinal leech therapy for the relief of severe postoperative vascular congestion of the penis in a male infant with exstrophy of the bladder. When more conventional methods of decongestion were unsuccessful, medicinal leech therapy markedly improved the infant's chance of remaining both phenotypically and functionally male. The uneventful and successful use of medicinal leeches in this patient demonstrates that medicinal leeches may be safely used in the newborn period, if appropriate precautions are taken to prevent both infection and anemia.