Ultrasound could heal chronic wounds, says new research

A small clinical study has shown that chronic wounds could be healed through the use of ultrasound. Researchers have used an ultrasound applicator that is able to be worn like a plaster to help speed up the healing process of chronic wounds.

Five patients were involved in the study that used the devices to deliver low-intensity and low-frequency ultrasounds to the wounds. This small study has shown that the patients, all of whom had venous ulcers, experienced a faster rate of healing when using the device, in comparison to those that were given a placebo device.

Venous ulcers affect a large number of people in the world and are caused when veins malfunction. This results in blood pooling in the leg instead of travelling correctly through the circulatory system and returning to the heart. As the blood pools in the leg, cells and proteins in the vein can start to leak into the tissue of the leg, which allows the painful ulcer to form. Venous ulcers are a problem commonly associated with obesity and, as such, the number of people suffering with them is expected to increase alongside the rates of obesity.

In order to find a cheaper treatment for these chronic wounds, researchers at Drexel University, Philadelphia, used funding from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering (NIBIB) to develop this new ultrasound technology. It is hoped the further development of this technology could lead to a form of treatment that is quicker than current treatment methods.

Doctor Michael Weingarten, chief of vascular surgery at Drexel Medicine and a researcher in the study, said: “Right now, we rely mostly on passive treatments. “With the exception of expensive skin grafting surgeries, there are very few technologies that actively stimulate healing of these ulcers.”   

The researchers report in the 'Journal of the Acoustical Society of America' that the patients who were treated with the ultrasound patch during weekly visits displayed a net reduction in the size of the wound after just four treatments. The patients still received traditional treatment methods alongside the ultrasound. Of those patients who didn't receive the ultrasound treatment, most experienced an increase in the size of their wound.