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Dissertation
Improvement of wound healing with nonthermogenic ultrasound
Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), Drexel University
1997
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17918/00008708
Abstract
Chronic wounds such as pressure ulcers (bedsores), burns, diabetic ulcers etc. are a major challenge in health care, inflicting enormous suffering disability and expense. A variety of physical modalities have been advocated to improve the healing of wounds, including ultrasonic, galvanic, magnetic and light stimulation. Therapeutic ultrasound has been used to improve wound healing for over half a century; but its efficacy is still controversial. For ethical reasons, human clinical studies of wound healing are difficult to control; and most animal studies have used rodents or lagomorphs whose skin is not well comparable to that of human patients. A total 340 wounds in 35 mature Yucatan miniature swine, an animal whose skin resembles that of humans very closely, were studied to investigate the effects of ultrasound energy on wound healing. The goals of this research are: (1) Establish an appropriate animal model which is analogous to human beings for the wound healing study. (2) Evaluate the efficacy of ultrasound treatment of wound healing in the established animal model. (3) Investigate the optimal protocol of ultrasound treatment if it is effective to wound healing. (4) Apply methods for the in vivo study of biological effects of ultrasound to explore the mechanisms of ultrasound wound healing improvement. Five ultrasound treatment regimens with different intensities and frequencies were tested. Many non-invasive and invasive methods, such as digital image wound area measurement, transepidermal water loss measurement, mechanical strength test of skin sample and pathological examination, were used to evaluate the wound healing effects. The results indicate that the general effect of non-thermal ultrasound energy is beneficial to wound healing in this swine model; the different regimens tested appear not in equal effect with some more promising than others although further research confirmation is necessary; and the using of more than one ultrasound regimen at different stages of wound healing indicates a promising direction for future research. The possible mechanisms of ultrasound bio-effects involved in wound healing have also been studied and discussed.
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Details
- Title
- Improvement of wound healing with nonthermogenic ultrasound
- Creators
- Wenyao Shi
- Awarding Institution
- Drexel University
- Degree Awarded
- Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.)
- Publisher
- Drexel University; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
- Number of pages
- x, 113 pages
- Resource Type
- Dissertation
- Language
- English
- Academic Unit
- Drexel University
- Other Identifier
- 991021888940004721