Current applications of therapeutic phlebotomy.

Phlebotomy, known also as bloodletting or venesection, is a major therapeutic procedure that has been performed by physicians in various civilisations since antiquity up to the present1,2. In the past it was practised using cupping, lancets or by the application of leeches2. This procedure often weakened the patient and resulted in his or her death. A famous example is that of President George Washington who died in 1799 following the removal of...