gms | German Medical Science

Electrical currents are critical for burn wound healing. Electric fields occur naturally in wounds and guide strong signals of cell migration and tissue regeneration. Injured tissue generates a current between the negatively charged wound center and the positively charged wound border zone. Impairment of endogenous wound currents leads to delayed wound healing. Many cell types respond to “the current of injury”. Migration and alignment of e.g., epithelial cell types, growth of nerves and increase of vascular structures are positively influenced. The clinical use of electrical currents in wound healing has been limited due to the need to insert probes into the wound or to apply sticky patches that serve as cathode and anode. The invention of a wireless microstimulator now allows non-contact electrical stimulation (NCES) by directing negatively charged oxygen ions airborne to the wound. Specifically patients with facial burns might benefit from non-contact electrical stimulation treatment if surgery and the risk of disfiguring scar formation can be reduced. We characterized burn degree clinically and by Laser-Speckle Contrast Analysis (LASCA) imaging. The effects of NCES in a series of patients (n=12) with superficial and deep 2° facial burns and in one patient with a basic chemical burn using the Wireless Micro Current Stimulator (WMCS) device (Wetling, Denmark) were tested in comparison to a control group. Our data show that NCES treatment is a safe, well tolerated by patients procedure, that significantly accelerates epithelialization and improves comfort and cosmetic outcome in superficial and deep 2° facial burns.