Researchers have developed ultrasound patches to treat the venous ulcers that afflict thousands of patients.
Trials in the USA show that the patches can "significantly" accelerate healing of the ulcers, it was announced yesterday.
The ultrasound patch weighs as much as a bar of chocolate – 100 grams – and is connected to two rechargeable batteries.
They deliver low-frequency, low-intensity ultrasound to the wounds.
Researchers compared the impact of 15 minute and 45 minute doses of ultrasound treatment and found that 15 minute doses were most effective.
The findings have been published in the Journal of the Acoustical Society of America.
Researcher Dr Michael Weingarten, of Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, said: "With the exception of expensive skin grafting surgeries, there are very few technologies that actively stimulate healing of these ulcers."
Fellow researcher Dr Peter Lewin, a professor of biomedical engineering, said: "We wanted this to be fully wearable as well as portable, so we needed to make it battery-powered.
"To achieve that, we had had to design a transducer that could produce medically relevant energy levels using minimum voltage."
Dr Hector Lopez, of the US National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering, welcomed the research.
He said: "The wound healing technology described in this study is a particularly exciting ultrasound therapy application that holds great promise for future treatment of chronic wound patients."
Journal of the Acoustical Society of America 1 August 2013
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