Ultrasound Therapy in Tendinous Injury Healing in Goats

Abstract

The effect of ultrasound therapy on tendon injury healing was studied on 12 locally available non-descript adult goats of either sex divided equally in two groups (I and II) consisting of six animals each. The superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT) was transected and immediately repaired with nylon (2/0) using a locking loop suture pattern under atropine-triflupromazine-lignocaine epidural analgesia and strict aseptic condition. A full limb plaster of Paris cast was applied to immobilize the operated limb for 3 days. Postoperative care was similar in both the groups. In group I, the operated limb was allowed to heal without ultrasound therapy. In group II, pulsed ultrasound therapy was started 3 days after repair of tendinous injury at an intensity of 1 W/cm(2) for 10 min daily for 10 consecutive days. The animals of both groups were evaluated clinically and haemato-biochemically on days 1, 3, 7, 15, 20 and 30 postoperatively. Air tendonograms and ultrasonography were performed on days 0, 10, 20 and 30 post-tenorrhaphy. Histopathological examination of tendon biopsy samples was performed on day 30 post-tenorrhaphy. Resolution of inflammatory swelling, pain, weight bearing and tendon gliding movement was earlier in the test group than control. Rectal temperature, total leucocyte count and differential leucocyte count did not vary significantly at various stages of observation in both the groups. Serum glucose, cortisone and serum alkaline phosphatase levels increased significantly after tendon injury repair in all the animals and decreased slowly at all subsequent intervals in control group, whereas, it was near normal in the treatment group on day 30 post-tenorrhaphy. Air tendenograms and ultrasonography examinations in the test group revealed that there was a marked regression of peritendinous adhesion between the tendon and skin on day 30 post-tendon injury repaired and the tendon at the reconstructive site attained near normal thickness and density. Adhesions were present in the reconstructed site of SDFT in all animals of the control group. Histopathologically, the granulation tissue was comparatively bettered organized at the healing site in the ultrasound-treated animals.

Muscle and Tendon Heating Rates with Therapeutic Ultrasound in Horses

“…Furthermore, heating with ultrasound to ≥45°C can cause tissue damage, but none of the tissues treated in this study were heated to ≥45°C. The therapeutic nature of pulsed and continuous ultrasound on tendon healing, without causing associated swelling, has been firmly established in both human and veterinary literature, further supporting the conclusion that the swelling seen in our experiment was from placement of thermistors into the tendons and not therapeutic ultrasound.…”

“…All horses were closely monitored, and no other horses developed lameness, and all swellings resolved within 3 months after the experiment. Several studies have shown therapeutic ultrasound to be effective at improving the quality of tendon healing . One study assessing the benefit of pulsed therapeutic ultrasound on healing of transected patellar tendons of rats found that rats treated early (after 1 day) had a significantly greater increase in the ultimate mechanical strength of the tendon and improvement in collagen alignment than did the controls, which received no treatment or delayed treatment (14 days or 28 days after tendon transection) …”

“…The benefits of therapeutic ultrasound have been established in human and veterinary medicine . Therapeutic effects of ultrasound are both thermal and nonthermal (biologic).…”

“…The benefits of therapeutic ultrasound have been established in human and veterinary medicine. [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8] Therapeutic effects of ultrasound are both thermal and nonthermal (biologic). Thermal (tissue heating) effects are achieved by heating tissue using noninterrupted sound waves, or continuous ultrasound.…”

Ultrasonograph and Clinical Quantitative Characterization of Tendinopathy by Modified Splitting in a Goat Model

“…Recently new models have been developed ex vivo : cyclical loading, creep loading, and stress deprivation, and in vivo : electrical muscle stimulation, downhill and uphill treadmill running, fatigue loading, and disuse [7]. A surgical model (tenectomy) has been described in goats to study acute tendon rupture and healing [10]. …”