To treat and speed up healing of chronic wounds, especially venous leg ulcers that affect people with diabetes, doctors may use ultrasound. Often criticized in the scientific literature, they seem to have proven their worth in this new study.
Researchers at Walk University (UK) tested ultrasound in diabetic mice. They found that electronic stimulation of the skin with ultrasound could improve healing in chronic wounds.
These wounds are linked to age and diabetes and often lead to limb amputation. If ultrasound is effective in treating them, it should not be neglected because a simple injury that is initially harmless can amplify and become infected. These injuries are especially dangerous for people with diabetes, because insufficient blood flow prevents the wound from healing properly.
Management too late, amputation will then be the last resort. The latest study by the Association France Diabète identified 8,000 amputations per year, of toes or feet.
The results of the study showed that when applied to chronic wounds in diabetic mice, ultrasound treatment made it possible to recruit fibroblasts (support cells necessary for good healing) at the wound bed and, ultimately, reduce healing times by 30%. “These mice regain a healing time similar to that of young, healthy mice,” says James Roper, molecular biologist in the School of Biochemistry at Walk University.
“This solution could save more than 3 billion pounds in health care costs in the United Kingdom, thanks to a reduction of a third of the healing time” conclude the researchers.
Read also:
Diabetes: a new treatment to cure foot ulcers
Diabetes: 30 seconds to find out if you are at risk
Infographic: what’s the difference between type 1 and type 2 diabetes?