[March 21, 2011] Study Reveals That SANUWAVE's DermaPACE Healed More Ulcers than HBOT Tweet By Carolyn J Dawson TMCnet Contributor   As an emerging medical technology company, Sanuwave Health announced the publication of its study titled "Treatment of Diabetic Foot Ulcers: A Comparative Study of Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy and Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy," in the online edition of Diabetes Research and Clinical Practice.    The research conducted by Wang, C.J. et al in Taiwan includes comparison of the effectiveness of the company's dermaPACE device with hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) in treating chronic diabetic foot ulcers.   As per the key findings of the research, dermaPACE demonstrated significantly improved healing, almost 57 percent of the diabetic foot ulcers as opposed to 25 percent in HBOT. Compared to 10 ulcers treated with HBOT, DermaPACE completely healed 24 ulcers after just one treatment. Following the second treatment, dermaPACE healed a combined 31 ulcers compared to 11 ulcers for HBOT.   Also, ulcers treated with HBOT did not show any changes in size and depth compared to ulcers treated with dermaPACE after a single course of treatment. In the HBOT group, perfusion or blood flow remained static however perfusion significantly increased in the dermaPACE group after treatment.   Last but not the least, dermaPACE required 85 percent fewer treatments and 97 percent less treatment time compared to HBOT.  While performing histological examinations on biopsy specimens taken from the edge of the ulcer, dermaPACE group showed higher cell proliferation, cell concentration and cell activity with lower cell apoptosis.   As per the researchers, the biologic effects combined with increased tissue perfusion improved the ability of dermaPACE to heal such diabetic foot ulcers.   In a release, Ching-Jen Wang, M.D., study lead investigator said, "'I am impressed with the clinical findings of this study, which suggest that dermaPACE has the ability to improve wound healing by increasing perfusion in the wound environment and normalizing the rates of cell apoptosis and tissue regeneration in chronic diabetic foot ulcers. By elevating perfusion in the wound area, the ischemic component of the chronic wound disease state is decreased immediately."   Wang added that even though HBOT was the most common adjunctive therapy in the care of chronic Grade III and IV diabetic foot ulcers, the results of the study showed that dermaPACE proved to be more effective.   Patients with chronic, non-healing diabetic foot ulcers with infection, localized pus, bone inflammation and even gangrene were included in the prospective, open-label study. Carolyn John is a Contributor to TMCnet. To read more of her articles, please columnist page. Edited by Janice McDuffee [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]