Electrical Nerve Stimulation for fistulas :ywow:

[PsychoJane]

So, I was checking up to see if TENS could be beneficial for the healing of my wound because my surgeon mentioned that some wound improve from its use. Since he just mentioned it out of the blue and that it was not something he directly recommended I decided to check it and see if there was anything related to abdominal wound healing and TENS because what I could mostly find were leg injuries and such. That being said, I came across this and found it was quite interesting and I wonder if it has also been used for perianal fistula.

Electrical nerve stimulation (ENS) increases blood flow in ischemic tissues and encourages healing. Berna et al reported the successful use of ENS in 2 patients with a low-output ECF. In the study, the direction and depth of the fistula tract were ultrasonographically determined. A sterile compress impregnated with saline solution was then introduced through the fistula. The positive electrode was positioned on the compress and the negative electrode was positioned over the fistula orifice.[20]

The treatment was given once a day for 1 hour, with one patient requiring 10 treatment sessions to heal and the second patient requiring 20 sessions. ENS was well tolerated by both patients and no complications were noted. No recurrence of the fistula occurred during a 3-year follow-up period.

Source: Vikram, Kate(2011), "Enterocutaneous Fistula - Electrical Nerve Stimulation", on Medscape: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1372132-overview#aw2aab6c13, [page consulted 28-06-2012].

 

[chrisnsteph1022]

Interesting. I'm using a TENS unit right now, but it's for herniated discs.