bloodletting

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bloodletting

bloodletting also called bleeding, practice of drawing blood from the body in the treatment of disease. General bloodletting consists of the abstraction of blood by incision into an artery (arteriotomy) or vein (venesection, or phlebotomy). Local bloodletting is the abstraction of blood from smaller vessels by watercupping or by leeching. From antiquity through the 18th cent. bloodletting was widely practiced in western medicine. A broad assortment of ailments were believed to result from the impurity or superabundance of blood in the system; periodic bloodletting was felt to assure the patient of good health. In modern times the medicinal leech ( Hirudo medicinalis ) is still used in some areas of the world for the removal of blood from bruises and black eyes. Venesection is employed to treat erythremia, an abnormal condition characterized by the overproduction of red blood cells, and to relieve the congestion of blood resulting from acute heart failure.

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bloodletting

The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English | 2009 | © The Oxford Pocket Dictionary of Current English 2009, originally published by Oxford University Press 2009. (Hide copyright information) Copyright

blood·let·ting / ˈblədˌleting/ • n. chiefly hist. the surgical removal of some of a patient's blood for therapeutic purposes. ∎ the violent killing and wounding of people during a war or conflict: gang members have halted their internecine bloodletting. ∎ bitter division and quarreling within an organization.

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Free newspaper and magazine articles

	Treatment of acute sore throat with bloodletting therapy.(Disease/Disorder overview) Magazine article from: The Journal of Chinese Medicine; 2/1/2002
	Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures.(Book review) Magazine article from: ForeWord; 9/1/2007
	Lam, Vincent. Bloodletting & miraculous cures; stories.(Young adult review)(Brief article)(Audiobook review) Magazine article from: Kliatt; 3/1/2008

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