Alphonsus Chong's Personal Wiki

The Effects of Ultrasound Treatment on Flexor Tendon Healing in the Chicken Limb

We report the effects of early and late ultrasound treatment protocols on healing of surgically lacerated zone 2 flexor tendons in a chicken model. Ultrasound was administered directly using a coupling gel. Treatment was shown to increase range of movement, to advance scar maturation and to decrease the amount of inflammatory infiltrate around the repair site. No adverse effects on tensile strength were noted in either group. Early (starting 7 days post-operatively) administration was more effective than late (starting 42 days post-operatively) administration in achieving these effects. These results suggest that ultrasound therapy may be of benefit in the early healing process of flexor tendon lacerations.

Direct vs direct application US wave?

1. Direct US in chicken – closest to human
2. FDP tendon repair in 3rd toe (zone 2)
3. 4/0 Kessler-Tajima
4. Post-op immobilization until 4 weeks –> 1/2 kept immobilized, 1/2 allowed to mobilize
   1. mobilized samples discarded because weaker, “unrestricted mobilization at 4 weeks is too early”. This is not what we do.
5. Treatments: No, early (d7), late US (d42)
   1. 3 min with duty cycle 25%, 10 treatments a day. This is not practical
6. sacrificed at 4 and 8 weeks
7. in-situ ROM 65g on FDP tendon
8. tensile strength - strain 0.001 strain units - youngs modulus
9. Histology - 2 each group with blinded assessment:

a marked decrease in inflammatory infiltrate and a more regular pattern of scar formation (Fig 5) in the US groups. These effects were more pronounced in the early US group than in the late US group.

Table 1 - Numerical values of ROM testing

ROM =range of movement. US - ultrasound. Values represent mean_+ SEM (mm). * Denotes P < 0.05.

1. flexor_tendon

Gan, B. S., Huys, S., Sherebrin, M. H., & Scilley, C. G. (1995). The Effects of Ultrasound Treatment on Flexor Tendon Healing in the Chicken Limb. Journal of Hand Surgery, 20(6), 809–814. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0266-7681(95)80054-9

1. created: 2021-05-08