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from the when-neosporin-isn't-good-enough dept.
Application of ultrasound has been shown to speed broken bone regeneration by one third, and even restore memory to mice with Alzheimer's. Now researchers have found that ultrasound can accelerate healing time of skin wounds too.
The elderly and those with diabetes can often develop chronic healing defects such as skin ulcers and bedsores. Chronic wounds like foot ulcers lead to major limb amputation if not healed properly. In a recent animal study published in the Journal of Investigative of Dermatology, researchers at the University of Bristol found that low-intensity ultrasound helped increase the healing time of wounds in diabetic and aged mice by 30 percent. This accelerated healing may not be as fast Wolverine's, but it could be the difference between keeping or losing a foot.
The equipment was not much different from what is used to monitor a foetus during pregnancy. However, the vibration of the sound waves activated a protein pathway that helped fibroblast cells, which are important to healing, migrate to the wound.
http://www.popsci.com/sound-waves-accelerate-healing
[Press Release]: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2015/july/skin-healing.html
Original Submission
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday July 16 2015, @01:52PM
Ultrasound generates heat and heat results in vasodilation.
The increase in vascular permeability allows for faster migration of immune cells that participate in wound healing.