Shock waves, or focused high-energy pressure waves, have long been used to treat a wide variety of human and equine soft tissue indications and currently use is expanding to the canine population. Shock wave treatment was initially approved for use in the equine population in 1999 with PulseVet's EquiTron system.  Since the launch of its successor, the VersaTron, in 2002, PulseVet products have been used on well over 250,000 veterinary patients. The VersaTron is considered the gold standard of treatment for many orthopedic and other soft tissue conditions.

High-energy Focused Electrohydraulic Shock Wave Technology

Shock waves are characterized by a high peak pressure, typically around 50 Mpa and a short life cycle. By definition they have a fast initial rise in pressure over a period of less than 10 ns followed by a decrease in pressure that results in a cavitation effect in the treated tissue.  This cavitation effect results in the formation and collapse of vapor bubbles, which in turn results in secondary localized shock waves. The focused wave energy and subsequent cavitation effects result in the generation of substatntial compressive and tensile forces at a cellular level.

Compressive and tensile stresses result in microcellular trauma, resulting in the release of proteins from these cells.  This phenomenon is referred to as Cellular Expression.  Acutely, some of these proteins are cytokines which may effect the inflammatory response, returning a chronic condition, such as a wound or tendinopathy, to an acute condition and allowing the healing response to re-initiate. It has been shown that ESWT treatments result in the proliferation of numerous growth factors such as VEGF and eNOS, which result in neovascularization, and BMPs, which result in increased bone growth and bone density. Additionally, ESWT may disrupt biological biofilm, resulting in a bactericidal effect, which may assist in the healing of chronic wounds.

VersaTron® utilizes electrohydraulic technology to produce shock waves.  With this technology, a shock wave is generated at the spark source and is then focused to the target treatment area. The electrohydraulic technology as used in VersaTron is the only type of shock wave technology that results in shock waves at the focus point for all energy settings.