Americans approved the use of shock wave therapy
Last reviewed: 23.04.2024
All iLive content is medically reviewed or fact checked to ensure as much factual accuracy as possible.
We have strict sourcing guidelines and only link to reputable media sites, academic research institutions and, whenever possible, medically peer reviewed studies. Note that the numbers in parentheses ([1], [2], etc.) are clickable links to these studies.
If you feel that any of our content is inaccurate, out-of-date, or otherwise questionable, please select it and press Ctrl + Enter.
In the United States, the shock wave therapy method has been approved and can already be used in clinical practice.
Such a treatment technique, which involves shock waves, has been known for a long time. However, the use of such a procedure was probably not in all countries: specialists doubted the effectiveness and safety of this type of therapy, so they were slow to grant approval for its application in practice.
According to the latest data, the Office of Sanitary Supervision of the quality of food and medicines has finally granted approval for the use of a new development of an American device designed to heal wounds. The device operates on the principle of shock-wave action.
The creation of the new device was handled by Sanuwave, and the device itself was called the Dermapace system. The main focus of the device is the treatment of wounds in diabetes mellitus.
Patients suffering from diabetes have a common problem - such frequent complications as sluggish trophic processes in the form of erosions and ulcers. Experiments made it possible to verify that an acoustic shock wave can accelerate wound healing and improve granulation by 14%.
These findings were made following the results of an extreme clinical trial, in which 336 patients participated.
One part of the patients underwent treatment with conventional methods, as well as using a hardware shock-wave imitator. The second part of the patients offered the same conventional treatment, but with the use of the present Dermapace system. Six months after the beginning of the experiment, the scientists made certain conclusions: among the participants in the first group, the quality of healing was 30%, and in the second group, 44%.
Of course, it should be noted that the use of shock wave therapy is possible only against the background of the traditional treatment of ulcerative processes in diabetes mellitus. At the same time the age of patients should be at least 22 years. And one more condition: the need to apply shock waves occurs only when the ulcer does not lend itself to healing for more than one month.
Specialists also talked about possible side effects of shock wave therapy - pain on the site of impact, paresthesia, headaches, fever, nausea and even the development of infectious processes in the wound. But, as doctors say, such complications are insignificant in comparison with those consequences which usually develop against a background of a slow wound process - it is a question of the danger of development of gangrene with further amputation of the limb.
The risk of complications of trophic ulcers in diabetes is extremely high, so acceleration of wound healing is an actual problem for modern medicine. The scientific approval of the new shock wave device can help millions of patients around the world, and not just in the United States.
The information is published in the periodical Engadget.
[