Stefan Andereya

Importance to Hirudotherapy

Stefan Andereya is an orthopaedic surgeon at the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery of the University Hospital of the RWTH Aachen whose published work in hirudotherapy concerns the symptomatic treatment of osteoarthritis with medicinal leeches, a field the authors described as undergoing a renaissance. In a 2008 randomised study in Acta Orthopaedica, Andereya and co-authors (Stanzel, Maus, Mueller-Rath, Mumme, Siebert, Stock and Schneider) addressed the methodical weaknesses of earlier work by blinding patients and including a control group: 113 patients with advanced knee osteoarthritis were randomised to a single leech application (n=38), a double application four weeks apart (n=35), or a sham procedure using an 'artificial leech' (n=40), with outcomes recorded by KOOS and WOMAC scores and a pain VAS, and pain-medication use monitored over 26 weeks (PMID 18484250). Improvements in KOOS, WOMAC and VAS occurred in all three groups and were statistically significant throughout follow-up in the leech-treated groups, and pain-medication requirements also fell significantly. The greatest improvement followed the second application, with long-term reduction of joint stiffness and better function in daily living. The authors stated that they had not determined whether the outcome arose from active substances released during leeching, the placebo effect, or high expectations of this unusual treatment (PMID 18484250). Earlier ASH text named this researcher "Sabine Andereya" and attributed the 2008 carpometacarpal-joint trial to Andereya; both were incorrect — the PubMed record of the Acta Orthopaedica study lists Stefan Andereya as first author, and the carpometacarpal trial (PMID 18407413) lists Michalsen and colleagues, with no Andereya among them.