Electrical Enhancement of Healing in Combat Injuries to Hard and Soft Tissues

Investigations are in progress to evaluate the feasibility of using electrical currents to routinely enhance the healing of wounds to hard and soft tissues. Studies are underway in which the effects of electrical currents on processes related to wound healing are being characterized at three differe...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Savara,B. S, Fields,R. W, Tacke,R. T
Format: Report
Language:English
Subjects:
Anatomy and Physiology
BATTLES
BIOELECTRICITY
BIOPHYSICS
BONE FRACTURES
BONES
ELECTROTHERAPY
EXPERIMENTAL DATA
HEALING
IN VITRO ANALYSIS
IN VIVO ANALYSIS
Medicine and Medical Research
METABOLISM
MITOSIS
PIEZOELECTRIC EFFECT
TISSUES(BIOLOGY)
WOUNDS AND INJURIES
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Summary:Investigations are in progress to evaluate the feasibility of using electrical currents to routinely enhance the healing of wounds to hard and soft tissues. Studies are underway in which the effects of electrical currents on processes related to wound healing are being characterized at three different levels of biological organization to permit an efficient assessment of the feasibility of the concept and to permit optimization of effective administration procedures. The preliminary work to date has revealed encouraging influences of electrical energy at the cellular level in the form of increased mitotic activity and at the level of the intact organism in enhanced formation of osseous reparative tissue and related tissue and systemic reactions. These results are encouraging and the studies are being extended. The present program has prime military significance in terms of increased manpower efficiency and in the enhancement of effectiveness of various therapeutic procedures. Furthermore, these objectives are being obtained at greatly reduced cost by cross utilization of skills and facilities in a multidisciplinary team effort.