leech
leech is a topic covered in the Taber's Medical Dictionary.
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(lēch)

A bloodsucking water worm, belonging to the phylum Annelida, class Hirudinea, parasitic on humans and other animals. Leeches are a source of hirudin, an anticoagulant secreted by their buccal glands. In addition to hirudin, leech saliva contains several active substances including inhibitors of platelet aggregation, that have been synthesized for use as anticoagulants in clotting disorders.
SEE: Annelida; SEE: hirudin; SEE: Hirudinea
Leeches were used as a means of bloodletting, common until the mid-19th century but now almost completely abandoned.
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(lēch)

A bloodsucking water worm, belonging to the phylum Annelida, class Hirudinea, parasitic on humans and other animals. Leeches are a source of hirudin, an anticoagulant secreted by their buccal glands. In addition to hirudin, leech saliva contains several active substances including inhibitors of platelet aggregation, that have been synthesized for use as anticoagulants in clotting disorders.
SEE: Annelida; SEE: hirudin; SEE: Hirudinea
Leeches were used as a means of bloodletting, common until the mid-19th century but now almost completely abandoned.
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Citation
Venes, Donald, editor. "Leech." Taber's Medical Dictionary, 24th ed., F.A. Davis Company, 2021. Nursing Central, nursing.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/view/Tabers-Dictionary/734779/all/medicinal_leech.
Leech. In: Venes DD, ed. Taber's Medical Dictionary. F.A. Davis Company; 2021. https://nursing.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/view/Tabers-Dictionary/734779/all/medicinal_leech. Accessed March 26, 2023.
Leech. (2021). In Venes, D. (Ed.), Taber's Medical Dictionary (24th ed.). F.A. Davis Company. https://nursing.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/view/Tabers-Dictionary/734779/all/medicinal_leech
Leech [Internet]. In: Venes DD, editors. Taber's Medical Dictionary. F.A. Davis Company; 2021. [cited 2023 March 26]. Available from: https://nursing.unboundmedicine.com/nursingcentral/view/Tabers-Dictionary/734779/all/medicinal_leech.
* Article titles in AMA citation format should be in sentence-case
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T1 - leech
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PB - F.A. Davis Company
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DB - Nursing Central
DP - Unbound Medicine
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