TRT receives patent rights for procedure of reattaching damaged soft tissue to bone

Aug 26 2010

Tissue Regeneration Technologies, LLC (TRT), a Woodstock, Georgia medical technology company, recently received the rights to a new patent to bolster its SoftWave™ technology portfolio. The patent covers a method of reattaching damaged soft tissue to bone.

“TRT's vision is to benefit patients, payers, and physicians with all of our new therapies.”

Surgical procedures of reattaching damaged tissues such as ligaments and tendons to bone typically involve sutures or screws, and success is not guaranteed. Transplant cadaver ligaments are used when a person's own are unlikely to reattach under normal surgical procedures. Furthermore, time is of the essence in such procedures; generally, more time elapsed before or after operation results in lower success rates.

TRT's new patent (U.S. Patent No. 7,594,930) involves administering shock waves to a surgically anchored tissue in order to increase procedure reliability and decrease healing time. The new method is effective with either a patient's own or transplant tissues. The treatment is used whenever a ligament or muscle detaches from bone, typically because of severe traumatic injury.

John Warlick, Chief Executive Officer of TRT, elaborated on the significance of TRT's newest patent. "One goal of TRT's research is to develop procedures that promote healing and surgical reliability while decreasing healthcare costs," he said. "TRT's vision is to benefit patients, payers, and physicians with all of our new therapies."

Warlick further said he hopes this new technique will become common place in the medical field for all bone reattachment procedures.

"Most importantly," Warlick stated, "TRT is working closely with another company to gain regulatory approval to offer a combined bone anchor and SoftWave therapy."

TRT was founded in 2005 to develop unfocused shock wave technology in wound care and orthopedics and has since expanded its operations to the urology, cardiology, dental and neurology fields.

Research has shown unfocused shock waves have strong regenerative effects on all avascular tissues by stimulating strong biologic responses. These include the production of growth factors, nitric oxide, and critical gene expressions, which result in angiogenesis and improved blood supply with strong antibacterial properties for treated areas. Conditions that have benefited from shock wave treatment include acute and chronic wounds, non-healing bones, ischemic heart tissue, prostatitis and burns.

The company is currently involved in U.S. Food and Drug Administration trials for its "Gold" product line, which is approved in Europe, Asia, Canada and South America. TRT is confident its technologies will dramatically improve patient care and reduce health care costs.