Chronic wounds are a source of concern for healthcare professionals because these wound seriously affect the quality of life of the patients and put them at great risk for serious consequences like limb amputation. In addition to this, chronic wound like diabetic foot ulcers are very expensive to treat and manage and create a significant burden on the healthcare system. Standard wound care protocols like regular cleaning and application of appropriate wound dressing or bandage are useful but only for stabilizing the wound. A significant amount of research is being done to find effective remedies for chronic wounds. One such remedy is MIST ultrasound therapy.
MIST Therapy is a low frequency ultrasound delivered through a saline solution to the wound bed. It is painless and there is no direct contact with the wound. When the ultrasound wave is passed through saline solution, it converts the solution into fine particles, which are released towards the wound with pressure and remove dead tissues and debris. This therapy has shown to reduce bacteria and inflammation, stimulate the cells, increase blood flow, and promote formation of new blood vessels and increase collagen accumulation.
Two groups of patients were recruited at St. James Olympia Fields Hospital, Olympia Fields, IL, for a study to assess the effectiveness of this therapy. One group was used as control and treated with standard methods and the other group was treated with MIST. It was observed that wounds of the MIST group healed in about seven weeks, while control group took 10 weeks for healing. Many of the patients in the control group had to go through hospitalization and additional surgical procedures.
"We are very excited about the results of this study," commented Kevin Nickels, CEO. "This is the second clinical study published adding to the growing body of evidence for MIST Therapy. Celleration, Inc. is committed to the ongoing development and execution of high quality research to continually broaden the clinical use of MIST Technology(TM); and to provide our customers and the health care professionals well designed scientific studies on which to make evidence based treatment decisions."
There are several reasons for development of chronic wounds such as prolonged inflammatory phase due to cellulitis, reduced supply of oxygen to the damaged tissues. The reduction in the supply of oxygen decreases the amount of collagen, which is important for wound healing. In addition to these factors, one of the major causes is diabetes that affects body's immune system, which increases the risk of developing infections. Diabetes also affects the circulation of blood and reduced blood supply is another important factor in development of chronic wounds.
