Shock wave therapy shows remarkable results in wound healing and curing myocardial diseases

May 31 2005

Effective, non-invasive and practically without side effects - extracorporeal shock wave therapy has demonstrated impressive results not only in orthopedics and traumatology, but also in treating fresh and chronic wounds as well as circulatory disorders of the myocardial muscle.

These findings were presented at the ISMST-Congress in Vienna, Austria (May 30/31, 2005). The event is sponsored by the Austrian Social Insurance for Occupational Risks.

Surveys of lobe circulation and burn models on rats at the Universitatsklinik Innsbruck, Austria, have shown that shock wave therapy outclasses all previously applied treatments. Thus shock waves became a treatment of common skin ailments like chronic ulcers, bedsores and poorly healing and infected wounds or burns. A pilot project conducted in Vienna and Berlin from September 2004 to January 2005 involving more than 100 patients resulted in more than 80 percent of skin lesions reaching complete healing, 11 percent showed a success greater than 50 percent.

By applying shock waves in experiments using pigs, Japanese researchers achieved surprising results - a neoplasm of blood vessels in the heart was observed. The first clinical applications on humans in Europe confirmed these results - the circulation of the myocardial muscle improved, the number of heart attacks decreased.

Scientists assume a bio-chemical effect that initiates growth in blood vessels and releases growth factors, thereby causing chronically aggrieved tissue to heal.

Prof. Dr. Ching-Jen Wang (Kaoshiung, Taiwan) demonstrated a "biological response" to shock wave therapy - various proteins responsible for healing processes ("growth factors") are created, which cause an increased integration of newly formed blood vessels as well as new growth of tissue, thereby triggering the healing process - better circulation of the myocardial muscle, new bone formation and formation of new skin on lesions.