The effect of extracorporeal shock wave therapy on rabbits with avascular femoral head necrosis / 中华物理医学与康复杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the effects of extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) on avascular nec-rosis of the femoral head. Methods Thirty-two rabbits were used to make the avascular necrosis of the femoral headmodel by use of freezing method. Two rabbits were chosen to check the result of the model. Thirty rabbits were ran-domly divided into 2 groups a treatment group and a control group. Each group was observed 2, 4 and 8 weeks aftertreatment. Morphological and pathological changes of the femoral head were observed. An immunohistochemicalmethod was used to examine the distribution of vessel endothelium growth factor (VEGF) and fibroblast growth factor(bFGF) immunoreactive-positive cells in the bone tissues. Results Morphologically, the femoral heads of treat-ment group were smoother and glossier than those of the control group. The empty lacunae ratio, the number of theosteoblast was significantly different between the treatment and the control group. The expression of VEGF and hFGFin the bone tissues of treatment group increased significantly when compared with control group. Conclusion ES-WT can promote healing of avascular necrosis of femoral head.