Laser therapy and ultrasound promote wound healing, Turkish researchers have shown in animal experiments.

In the study, 124 rats with experimental back wounds were treated with ultrasound therapy, fake-ultrasound, laser therapy, or fake-laser for 10 days.

Both treatments accelerated the inflammatory phase of healing, but the effect was most pronounced with laser therapy, Dr. Huseyin Demir, from Erciyes Universitesi in Kayseri, and colleagues report in the Journal of Rehabilitation Research & Development.

Similarly, laser therapy provided greater beneficial changes during the proliferation phase. In contrast, the treatments were comparable in terms of their effects on the third phase - the maturation phase.

The results suggest that “both laser and ultrasound treatments can be used successfully for (bedsores) and chronic wounds,” when combined with conventional wound care therapies such as removing dead tissue, the researchers say.

SOURCE: Journal of Rehabilitation Research and Development, September/October 2004.