Extracorporeal shock wave therapy could be a potential adjuvant treatment for orthopaedic implant-associated infections

Over the past half-century, biomaterials have been used in orthopaedic surgery world widely, but orthopaedic implant-associated infections (OIAIs) are still a puzzle for orthopaedic surgeons, which may result in prolonged hospitalisation, poor functional status and high costs. The presence of implants increases the risk of microbial infection; moreover, the formation of bacterial biofilm leads to a higher resistance to antibiotics and local immune response. In such cases, conventional systemic delivery of drugs seems to be fairly inefficient and out-dated. Owing to this, debridement and/or removing the implant always become the only solution. Hence, it needs a simple, minimally invasive and effective therapy to eradicate the problem. There are abundant evidences showing that extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) has favourable effects on stimulating callus formation, inducing angiogenesis, promoting osteogenesis and relieving pain. Studies also indicated that ESWs have a significant bactericidal effect on bacterial strains of bone- and implant-associated infections. Therefore, a hypothesis proposed herein is that ESWT may well be an effective adjuvant treatment for OIAI by controlling infection, inducing bone regeneration and promoting re-osseointegration.