MicroVas Wound Treatment

In November of 1999, Healthsouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Tulsa, Okla.opened its doors to a treatment device for wounds called MicroVas. MicroVas is an electrical stimulation device used to increase circulation to an extremity or body part in order to speed wound healing. Since the hospital started using the device, it has made a marked improvement in speeding patient recovery.

The treatment concept itself is not new to the wound care arena. For over a century, healthcare has used some form of electrical stimulation to treat wounds. In the mid-1800s physicians used gold leaf. In the Mid to late 1900s physicians used high-tech, high volt electrical stimulus. The form of electrical current used in the MicroVas device originated in the Navy in the 1970s. It was used to stimulate circulation in soldiers who suffered from hypothermia.

Today, the circuitry system used in MicroVas employs a faradic current source to create a powerful waveform. The waveform penetrates deep within the body and accts upon the muscle and soft tissue formations. (There is also a modified component in the waveform that acts to stimulate the nerve endings and nerve centers.) Combined, they create a broad-spectrum force field. This field is directed to specific targets by placement of emitter and receptor pads in a position relative to the target areas. The intensity of the waveform is variable, with treatments lasting approximately 45 minutes. Treatments are performed with little discomfort to the patient. HealthSouth uses MicroVas not only to increase circulation to the extremity or area, but in some cases to stimulate angiogenesis and neurogenesis, which in turn speed wound healing.

The response to MicroVas at the hospital has been phenomenal. In most cases non-healing diabetic foot or leg ulcers have been completely healed. In one case, a diabetic patient faced possible amputation of almost half her foot due to an infected, gangrenous toe. With only two weeks of MicroVas treatment, daily wound care and assessment, the patient was discharged only requiring amputatation of the one toe – the rest of her foot was saved.

Another diabetic patient had a large heel ulcer on her right foot, a large wound on her upper left thigh, and several small dehisced areas on both lower extremities from a recent vein stripping surgery. The surgery was intended to improve circulation to her lower extremities. Within the first week of her three-week inpatient stay, all of the dehisced areas on bother lower extremity incisions had healed completely. By the time of her discharge, the wound on her upper thigh decreased in size 70 percent. The heel wound had gone from 90 percent necrotic upon admission to 100 percent granulated and clean with an 18 percent decrease in size. The patient continued wound care and MicroVas as an outpatient for an additional eleven weeks. At the end of her treatments in mid August, all wound were completely healed.

MicroVas is manufactured by MicroVas Technologies, Inc., which was founded by Wayne Buckner. The study of its effectiveness has been thoroughly researched under the direction of Thomas I. Whitsen, MD, director of vascular medicine at the University Of Oklahoma Health Science Center in Oklahoma City. It currently holds a patent-pending status, and is FDA approved and certified for the treatment of stage III and IV pressure ulcers. Its use is also indicated for the treatment of chronic and non-healing diabetic and venous ulcers, treatment of ischemic rest pain, muscle disuse atrophy, diabetic neuropathy, and paresthesia (pain) relating to neuropathy. Athletes who suffer muscle sprains and those rehabilitating from carpal tunnel syndrome can also benefit from MicroVas treatments. Contraindications to the use of MicroVas are untreated acute cellulites, bleeding or clotting disorders, active or history of deep venous thrombosis (DVTs), patients with pacemakers, pregnant women, patients taking any anticoagulants, or patients with any active cancer.

The would care treatment team at HealthSouth Rehabilitation Hospital of Tulsa is pleased with the results of MicroVas treatments. We look forward to using this newly packaged technology in the 21^st century as part of our commitment to provide patients the best and most advanced care possible.