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Abstract
The name ichthyotherapy comes from the Greek name for fish - Ichthys. In this biotherapeutic method Garra rufa fish are used for skin cleansing or treatment of other skin disorders. The history of this therapeutic method in traditional medicine is poorly documented. The museum near the river Kwai has a record of human suffering in prison camps and a sketch showing a prisoner immersed up to the waist in water with fish that are cleaning ulcers of the tibia. It is the first historical record of ichthyotherapy. Furthermore, there are records of widespread use of these fish in India, especially in rural areas. The best known form of ichthyotherapy is in the treatment of skin diseases with the use of Garra rufa fish, commonly known as "doctor fish" or nibbling fish, for cleaning damaged areas of the skin. This fish is found naturally in the Euphrates river. The benefits of using it were first observed in Kangal, Turkey - therefore it is also called the Kangal Fish. This article describes a comprehensive look at the ichthyotherapeutic method. We describe a procedure of ichthyotherapeutic treatment and the results of that treatment. The ichthyotherapeutic treatment was performed in the biotherapeutic facility of Scientica, Ltd. At St. Michael's Hospital in Bratislava.
Keywords: ichthyotheraphy Garra rufa, Kangal fish, psoriasis, biotherapy
Introduction
"Biotherapeutic medicine is an inseparable and valuable part of current modern medicine in the treatment and prevention of serious diseases and illnesses".
Biotherapy represents a set of therapeutic methods that use various animal species in the diagnosis or treatment of a range of diseases. The key point is that they are living organisms. Biotherapy includes the following methods: medicinal leeches (therapy using leeches), larval therapy (larvotherapy - therapy using insect larvae, maggot therapy), apitherapy (bee products and the use of bee venom), ichthyotherapy (use of fish in the treatment of skin diseases), service animals (seeing-eye dogs), olfactory detection (dogs detecting cancer in humans), helminthic therapy (use of nematodes to treat intestinal inflammation and immune disorders), bacteriophages (viruses that kill bacteria) and many more.
The practice and history of biotherapy is very diverse. Some biotherapeutic methods such as medicinal leech therapy or bee venom have been used for thousands of years. Other methods were introduced relatively...