Annals of vascular surgery
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Meta Analysis
Extracorporeal Shockwave Therapy for Diabetic Foot Ulcers: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.
Diabetes mellitus is one of the most common chronic diseases worldwide. Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) occur in over 10% of diabetic patients and are associated with high morbidity. Clinical trials have shown benefit from extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT) in a DFU healing. This systematic review aims to assess the currently available evidence examining the efficacy of ESWT on healing of DFU. ⋯ This systematic review concludes that ESWT has the potential to improve healing in DFUs, although there is, as yet, insufficient evidence to justify its use in routine clinical practice. The meta-analysis has a high risk of bias and is unlikely to reflect true effect size because of problematic risk of bias in included studies. This review highlights the variable quality of methodology of trials and dosing of shockwave therapy and the need for robust adequately powered research into this promising therapy.