Physicians and scientists from Bad Oeynhausen, Karlsburg and Greifswald prove efficacy of cold plasma for the first time in prospective, randomized and placebo-controlled study.
One of the major challenges in the treatment of patients with diabetes is the management of chronic wounds whose permanent healing is significantly delayed. The combination of a lack of impetus for wound healing and the occurrence of infections prevents wound closure and tissue regeneration – a problem that is significantly exacerbated by diabetes. The treatment is expensive and lengthy. Therapy is cumbersome for physicians and patients alike, which is why new concepts are urgently needed.
One such innovative concept could be treatment with cold plasma, the effectiveness of which has now been scientifically confirmed for the first time. Doctors and researchers at the Heart and Diabetes Center NRW (HDZ NRW), Bad Oeynhausen, at Klinikum Karlsburg and at the Leibniz Institute for Plasma Science and Technology (INP) Greifswald have now succeeded in doing so. They studied 62 wounds in a prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, patient-blinded study that received either cold plasma or placebo as an adjunct to standard wound therapy.
“The healing process under therapy with cold plasma was significantly accelerated, resulting in faster wound closure,” states the head of the clinical trial, Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c.. Diethelm Tschöpe, Director of the Diabetes Center at the HDZ NRW. “One advantage of the procedure is good patient tolerability. We have not noticed any side effects associated with the therapy,” adds wound expert Dr. Tania-Cristina Costea, senior physician at the clinic. The assumption that cold plasma has an antimicrobial and infection-modulating effect could not be proven. This can presumably be attributed to the effective, concomitant standard therapy and shows that biological effects of plasma are relevant in wound healing, continues PD Dr. Bernd Stratmann, first author of the publication and head of research at the Diabetes Center.
Source: University Hospital of the Ruhr University Bochum – Heart and Diabetes Center NRW Bad Oeynhausen
