Nanotechnology replaces traditional ice packs in managing orthopaedic injuries
Doctors, caregivers and patients have long been looking for pain/ inflammation management options for musculoskeletal injuries and post-surgical care which will both reduce the intake of pain medication and also improve patient ambulation, accelerating their return to full function.
The solution, according to Jacob Drapkin, the Executive Vice President of Global Sales and Marketing at Quantum Core Corp, lies in nanotherapeutics* controlled temperature solutions (CTS). He will be giving a technical presentation at Medical Manufacturing Asia on the 2nd September, explaining how, based on years of military testing and industrial use, CTS technology is now forging a new standard of therapeutic healing.
In the past 10 years, nanotherapeutics CTS have found applications for both civilian and military use treating traumatic injuries and managing heat-related injuries. Both the military and industry have also found them useful in prolonging the effective operational time of personnel working in hot environments in protective apparel such as Hazmat suits.
Drapkin’s presentation at Medical Manufacturing Asia will look at the many advances which have been made in nanotherapeutics CTS in recent years to improve patient outcomes, such as smoothing the polymer surface for direct skin contact, anatomical designs that improve communication between devices and body parts and the addition of an antimicrobial agent to the polymer that resists Escherichia Coli and Staphylococcus Aureus that could increase the risk of infections.
However, nanotherapeutics CTS is still not as widely used as ice, gel and ice-based water circulating systems for managing pain and inflammation from musculoskeletal injuries; even though they deliver temperatures that are too cold for wearing for prolonged periods without the health risks associated from overcooling such as frostbite, resulting in nerve and tissue damage.
Drapkins says, “Nanotherapeutics cold therapy solutions (CTS) on the other hand, maintains the optimum healing temperature of 15°C continually for up to two hours, only requiring 20 to 30 minutes of charging. This ensures patient comfort as well as enabling a natural healing process which eliminates concerns of tissue necrosis from over-exposure to freezing cold temperatures over an extended period of time.”
In the study by Ohkoshi et al (The effect of cryotherapy on intraarticular temperature and postoperative care after anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction; The American Journal of Sports Medicine, Vol. 27), the 10°C group showed statistically significant pain mitigation compared with the control group. The 5°C group, on the other hand, did not show a significant difference with the control group, and it was considered that this might have been caused by the 5°C cooling temperature being too low. Besides acting to alleviate pain, as described above, cooling can also be the cause of pain. When evaluated in terms of the clinical results, it was found that cryotherapy performed at 10°C was effective in alleviating the patients’ pain.
Better pain management almost always means reduced pain medication intake for patients, which means reducing the risk of its side effects such as constipation, nausea, vomiting, dizziness and even addiction and increased risk of cardiac arrest. Studies have shown that the use of cold therapy technologies translate to reduced pain medication intake.
As reported by Barber et al (Continuous-flow cold therapy for outpatient anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction; The Journal of Arthroscopic and Related Surgery, 1998), pain was higher in those patients that did not receive cold therapy on the average categorical pain (Likert) than the cold group categorical pain varying from 40 percent more significant pain in the first postoperative day (P=0.053) to 10 percent more at day six. Vicodin use was always greater than the cold patients’ use (P=0.013) varying from 125% more on day two (P=0.001) to 5% more on day seven.
Dr. Levy, (The role or cold compression dressings in the postoperative treatment of total knee arthroscopy; Clinical Orthopaedics and Related Research, 1993) stated the anaesthetic effect of local cooling is produced primarily by the slowing or elimination of pain signal transmission.
Musculoskeletal injuries which can benefit from nanotherapeutics CTS modality vary greatly. The more common indications include but are not limited to:
1. Ligament injuries and meniscus tears of the knee joint
2. Hyperextension/hyperflexion of muscle tissue, tendonitis
3. Blunt force traumatic injury, dislocations, fractures, postural and repetitive work-related wear and tear
4. Rotator cuff, bone spurs, bursitis, carpal tunnel
5. Osteoarthritis, corticosteroidal/ hyaluronic acid joint injections and joint effusion
6. Post-surgical return to function physical and occupational therapy after full and partial arthroplasty, traumatic bone fractures, joint fusions and traumatic fracture surgery.
Nanotherapeutics CTS has also been recommended as the preferred modality to accelerate healing as presented at the United States-based 2016 National Association of Orthopedic Nurses (NAON) Congress reflecting outstanding statistics for reducing pain, managing inflammation and swelling, as well as significantly higher patient compliance while reducing analgesic use. The study conducted by the nursing team at Englewood Hospital and Medical Centre, New Jersey, showed how nanotherapeutics CTS improved patient outcomes in 155 patients. The percentage of patients who responded that the nurses did everything to manage patient pain improved from 80 to 89 percent, which represented an improvement from the 62nd percentile to the 93rd percentile based on data from the National Research Corporation. Based in Canada, the National Research Corporation is an organisation promoting customer-centric healthcare, having assisted over 50,000 hospitals, health systems and other acute and post-acute healthcare providers grow, retain, engage and align with their patients.
*Nanotherapeutics is the application of bionanotechnology in which diseases can be treated by the use of various techniques at molecular level.
Jacob Drapkin will be presenting a technical presentation at 1.30pm, 2nd of September at Medical Manufacturing Asia, which will be co-located with the region’s premier medical conference and trade fair Medical Fair Asia 2016, at Marina Bay Sands. Registered visitors of Medical Fair Asia and Medical Manufacturing Asia can attend Jacob Drapkin’s technical session.
Medical Fair Asia 2016 is targeted at decision makers in the medical industry ranging from healthy ministry officials, hospital managers and employees, administrators and operators of rehabilitation organisations, nursing homes and organisations for the disabled to healthcare professionals (HCPs) including doctors (surgeries and hospital), nursing officers, hospital technicians, biologists, pharmacists, and visitors from industry and commerce. The 2014 iteration attracted 10,780 visitors, of which 40 percent came from outside Singapore.
Category: Features, Technology & Devices
