Institution: Imperial College London
Investigators: Mr Moustafa Hafez, Mr Richard Coombs
Stream: Clinical Fellowship
Topic: General Orthopaedic (Implant Infection)
Status: Live
Several previous researches had shown that the main targets of shockwave are the cell membrane. The cell walls of microbes are mechanically damages when shockwave are applied, leading to destruction of their protective barriers. Studies have shown that when bacteria are exposed to shockwave therapy it damages the cell membranes thereby increasing permeability. The destruction of the cell walls disturbs the osmotic gradient of themicrobes, allow water to get into the cells and life saving components such as the electrolytes to leak out.
Furthermore it has been shown that bacterial cell wall permeability increases by high hydrostatic pressure followed by an increase in the charge of cytoplasm RNA. High hydrostatic pressure treatment also leads to increased intracellular staining as demonstrated by Benito et al. 1999. Various groups have also discussed possible chemical and thermal damage to the microbial cell following shockwave therapy.
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