Medical maggots

Medical maggots are a medical device used for maggot therapy in the United States. Also known as Maggot Debridement Therapy (MDT), larval therapy, larva therapy, or larvae therapy, maggot therapy is a type of biotherapy involving the intentional introduction by a health care practitioner 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 Food and Drug Administration as a prescription-only medical device. With acceptance of premarket notification 510(k) 033391 in January 2004, the Food and Drug Administration granted Dr. Ronald Sherman permission to produce and market maggots for use in humans or other animals as a prescription medical device for the following indications:

"For debriding non-healing necrotic skin and soft tissue wounds, including pressure ulcers, venous stasis ulcers, neuropathic foot ulcers and non-healing traumatic or post surgical wounds."

Currently, there are over 800 health care centers in the United States that have utilized maggot therapy.

Medical maggots represent the first living organism ever allowed by the Food and Drug Administration for production and marketing as a prescription medical device.

Monarch Labs (located in Irvine, California) is the exclusive supplier of Medical maggots (disinfected Phaenicia sericata larvae) for maggot therapy in the United States.

= Cinematographic depiction of ancient maggot therapy practice in the 2000 film "Gladiator" =

There is a depiction of the ancient practice of maggot therapy in the 2000 film "Gladiator". Monarch Labs did not supply the maggots shown in the "Gladiator" film, nor seek a product placement for its Medical maggots. While the depiction of maggot therapy in the film "Gladiator" differs greatly from modern maggot therapy medical practice in not employing sterile maggots, special wound dressings, and being placed by a licensed medical practitioner, the cost-effective, safe and efficacious results of applying maggots to treat a severe wound in such a primitive setting are all hallmarks of modern maggot therapy.

External links

* [http://www.ucihs.uci.edu/com/pathology/sherman/home_pg.htm Maggot Therapy Project] web site at the University of California, Irvine, list of maggot therapy practitioners
*CBS News Video "Medicinal Maggots Can Help You Heal...Seriously" Video of maggots, maggot production and interview with a maggot therapy patient http://www.cbs2.com/video/?id=[e-mail]
*National Geographic video segment on Maggot Medicine on youtube.com http://youtube.com/watch?v=6Xt6NWkgydM
*The NIH Record; Medieval Miracle Workers-- Are Maggots Making a Medical Comeback? The National Institutes of Health experience with maggot therapy http://www.nih.gov/nihrecord/07_20_2004/main.htm
*The New York Times "Age-Old Cures, Like the Maggot, Get U.S. Hearing" http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/25/health/25fda.html?ex=1282622400&en=4349ebda14fbff60&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
*Picture of maggot therapy vial, information on maggot therapy application, purchasing Medical Maggots, http://www.monarchlabs.com
*The New York Times "Medical Maggots" http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/11/magazine/11ideas_section2-14.html?ex=1185076800&en=9295a7647346850f&ei=5070ex=1282622400&en=4349ebda14fbff60&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
*Wound Care Information Network writeup on everything you want to know about maggot therapy http://www.medicaledu.com/maggots.htm
* http://youtube.com/watch?v=4pDX_wbtgfQ Youtube.com video of a patient who says maggots saved her legs and her life
* http://osu.okstate.edu/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=480&Itemid=90 Prize colt survives snake bite following OSU-CVHS treatments including maggot therapy