Good Vibrations: The use of non-contact low frequency ultrasound therapy (NLFU) in the treatment of chronic wounds in the pediatric population

Problem:  Chronic wounds are not a common occurrence in the pediatric population.  Wounds in healthy children usually heal quickly and without complication.  However, wound healing can be delayed by factors such as an underlying disease process, administration of certain medications, poor nutrition or an immunocompromised state. Wounds that develop in patients with these risk factors, do not always respond to standard wound treatments and can become chronic.

Project Objective: NLFU was begun for wounds that showed less than 50% improvement after one month of treatment. There were no exclusions for therapies used prior to the initiation of NLFU. 

Case Series:  NLFU was used to treat wounds with less than 50% improvement after one month of treatment in three pediatric cases. Wounds varied in type. Patients ranged from five to 17 years of age.

Outcome: NLFU was used for chronic wounds in three pediatric cases.  All patients achieved improvement in the wound healing as evidence by complete closure or 50% improvement within two weeks of treatment with NLFU. Decreased slough and decreased pain and/or discomfort during dressing changes were observed as well.