Maggots for Therapy

Published on April 13, 2010 by News Desk   ·   219 Comments  Print This Post

INVC,,

New Delhi:

Medical Maggots are a prescription only medical device used for maggots therapy said Padma Shri and Dr B C Roy Awardee Dr KK Aggarwal, President Heart Care Foundation of India.

Maggot therapy (also known as Maggot Debridement Therapy (MDT), larval therapy, larva therapy, or larvae therapy) is a type of biotherapy involving the intentional introduction by a doctor of live, disinfected maggots (fly larvae) into the non–healing skin and soft tissue wound(s) of a human or animal for the purpose of selectively cleaning out only the necrotic (dead) tissue within a wound in order to promote wound healing.

In the United States, Medical Maggots are regulated by the FDA as a prescription–only medical device. In January of 2004, the FDA granted permission to produce and market maggots for use in humans or other animals as a prescription use medical device for the following indications:

For debriding non–healing necrotic skin and soft tissue wounds

1. Pressure ulcers

1. Venous stasis ulcers

1. Neuropathic foot ulcers

1. Non–healing traumatic or post surgical wounds

Medical Maggots represent the first living organisms ever allowed by the FDA for production and marketing as a prescription medical device. The use of maggots as a form of field improvised debridement has been documented since at least the American Civil War and is currently taught to US Army Special Forces medics. In controlled and sterile settings, maggot therapy introduces live, disinfected maggots or fly larvae into non–healing skin or soft tissue wounds of a human or other animal. This practice was widely used before the discovery of antibiotics, as it serves to clean the dead tissue within a wound in order to promote healing.

Tags:  Dr K K Aggarwal, health, Maggots for Therapy