P.E.M.F. Therapy of Chronic Wounds
- Conditions
- Chronic Wounds
- Interventions
- Other: Pulsed ElectroMagnetic (PEMF) therapyDevice: Pulsed ElectroMagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy
- Registration Number
- NCT05493943
- Lead Sponsor
- PEMF Systems, Inc.
- Brief Summary
To measure the effectiveness of pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) as an adjunct wound care therapy.
- Detailed Description
The goal of the three-arm trial is to employ application of pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) directly over chronic wounds combined with standard of care local wound therapy (SOC). Three different PEMF devices, one a low power system (LP-PEMF), another a high power system (HP-PEMF) and the third a sham device that does not emit energy (S-PEMF) will be employed as adjuncts to standard wound care. The primary hypothesis to be tested is that exposure of wounds to one of the PEMF devices leads to significantly better and faster healing than the sham system.
Research Design:
An investigator initiated, prospective, double blinded parallel three arm treatment study. Subjects are randomized to receive one of the three PEMF devices (LP-PEMF, HP-PEMF or sham device) twice daily for 15 minutes directly over a wound. Initially, 40 subjects from each treatment group will be enrolled for total of 120 subjects at VA Long Beach Healthcare System (VALB) at the interim analysis. Based on the results of that analysis, one of the treatment arms will be eliminated and a follow-up study will continue with the remaining two arms. Additional 60 to 100 subjects are to be enrolled after interim analysis and the study may expand to Greater Los Angeles Medical Center. The study is expected to last 2 years.
Participating eligible subjects will be asked to come to the VALB once a week for 14 weeks and then for 2 or 3 visits over 8 more weeks. The total number of visits including the first visit could be up to 17 visits in 5 months. The study has three phases: Screening phase (2 weeks); Treatment phase (12 weeks); and Follow-up phase (8 weeks). Subjects participation in the study may last up to 22 weeks, but subjects who heal early during the Treatment phase will have a reduced period of participation based on when their wound heals.
Methodology
Inclusion criteria include age ≥21 years; presence of venous leg ulcers (VLU), Diabetic foot ulcers (DFU) or Pressure Ulcers (PU); wound size between 2 and 30 cm2; no exposed joint, tendon or bone, no tunneling or sinus tracts; wound duration ≥ 6 weeks.
Each wound will be reviewed for eligibility by assessing with duplex ultrasound, skin changes, tendon/bone/joint involvement, Ankle brachial Pressure Index (ABI), BMI, Hemoglobin A1c, Albumin and other medical history.
Female subjects who are currently breast feeding or capable of conceiving and all males capable of insemination must use an acceptable form of contraception in order to participate in the study (acceptable forms of contraception include condoms for males and contraceptive pills or IUDs for women).
Findings: None
Clinical Significance: Potentially beneficial treatment option for veterans with diabetic foot ulcer, venous leg ulcers or pressure ulcers.
Recruitment & Eligibility
- Status
- NOT_YET_RECRUITING
- Sex
- All
- Target Recruitment
- 120
Not provided
Not provided
Study & Design
- Study Type
- INTERVENTIONAL
- Study Design
- PARALLEL
- Arm && Interventions
Group Intervention Description PEMF Sham control Pulsed ElectroMagnetic (PEMF) therapy Control arm using a sham PEMF device. PEMF low power Pulsed ElectroMagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy PEMF therapy using a device with low pulse intensity. PEMF medium power Pulsed ElectroMagnetic Field (PEMF) therapy PEMF therapy using a medium pulse intensity.
- Primary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Time to complete healing 12 weeks Complete re-epithelization of wound
Wound closure 12 weeks Squared milimeters of wound closure
- Secondary Outcome Measures
Name Time Method Number and type of adverse events 12 weeks Safety Endpoint
Device effectiveness 12 weeks Compare the rate of effectiveness between performance of the two PEMF power levels by measuring percentage of wound closure