Shockwave Therapy of Chronic Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Brief summary (from the registry)

Introduction: Foot ulcers are a feared complication among diabetic patients. The ulcers can cause pain, discomfort and reduced quality of life. The development of foot ulcers places the patients at a risk of amputation. In the Danish Health Care System a substantial effort is done to prevent and treat diabetic foot ulcers. A constant research of how to treat these wounds is ongoing. The goal is to optimize wound healing and prevent amputations. Extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) involves the use of a device that generates low-energy shockwaves through a headpiece, which is placed on the skin of the patient. A small amount of energy will be deposited in the tissue when shockwaves are applied. This stimulates the cells to produce substances that generate new vessels. No side effects to ESWT have been shown. Purpose: The investigators want to test whether shockwave therapy can improve wound healing among diabetic patients with foot ulcers. Hypothesis: The investigators hypothesize that shockwave therapy accelerates ulcer healing, increases blood flow, reduces pain, and has no side effects. Method: Patients who are interested in participation will be included in the study and divided by randomization into two groups of equal size. The first group is treated with ESWT in combination with regular guideline treatment. The second group is set up as control group and will only receive regular guideline treatment. The participants are examined in different ways to evaluate whether ESWT helps the healing of foot ulcers. The investigators want to measure tissue oxygen pressure and foot sense of touch. The foot ulcers are inspected for infection at every consultation, and a swab sample will be collected at enrollment. The size of the ulcers are measured and photographed each time. The investigators will count how many foot ulcers that are completely healed during the test period and measure the sizes of the remaining foot ulcers. The patients are asked to evaluate pain rela…

Study details

Official title

Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy (ESWT) of Chronic Diabetic Foot Ulcers

Conditions

• Diabetic Foot Ulcer

Interventions

• Device: Extracorporeal shockwave therapy

Sponsor

Odense University Hospital

Collaborators

University of Southern Denmark

Start date

2015-02

Primary completion

2015-12

Sex

All

Age range

from 18 Years

Results posted

No results posted in this snapshot

Countries

Denmark

Total sites listed

1

Eligibility criteria