High voltage pulsed stimulation increases cicatrization of chronic cutaneous ulcers: analysis of six cases

Abstract

The treatment of cutaneous ulcers by electrical stimulation in clinical practice has grown, however there are few studies investigating the effectiveness of these individual resources in monitoring and complete healing of the lesions. Thus, High Voltage Pulsed Stimulation (HVPS) was used in chronic skin ulcers with the aim of reduce the area of the lesion. Four male subjects with chronic cutaneous ulcers participated in the study. The treatment of the injury consisted on HVPS application (15 microseconds, 100/150 V, 100 Hz) for 30 minutes, 2 times weekly. The electrode with negative polarity was placed on the lesion and positive on vascular path. The ulcers were assessed pre and post-intervention by photogrammetry, and it was calculated the area of the lesion. As a result, we observed the complete healing in the subjects I and II (respectively, area of 4.66 cm² to 0 after 21 sessions and 1.74 cm² to 0 after 16 sessions). The area of subject III right ulcer obtained reduction of 93% after 100° session (2.02 to 0.14 cm²) and left ulcer obtained reduction of 80.40% (2.50 to 0.49 cm²). In subject IV there was a complete healing of the sacral lesion after 75 sessions (10.74 cm² to 0) and decrease sciatic lesion of 11.01 to 2.43 cm². Thus we conclude that HVPS facilitated the healing process of stimulated ulcers because the areas of all ulcers had decreased more than 78%, and in three of them there was complete healing.