Publications

Objective: this study was meant to help physical therapists determine whether phenytoin phonophoresis has better effect than topical application alone on the healing process of the burn wound. Moreover, it is meant to determine whether pulsed or continuous phonophoresis is the best to achieve optimum burn wound care. Procedure: forty five adult male Sprague-Dawley rats were used in this study ranging between 10-12 weeks of age, and weighing 200-250g at the start of the experiment. One deep full thickness (third degree) burn wound was induced on the trimmed back of the neck by contact for 10s with 127oC heated metal stamp, 500mm2 in area. The rats were randomly divided into three equal groups; each group included fifteen rats. The pulsed phonophoresis group (PPG) was treated with pulsed ultrasound (I=0.8W/cm2 and F=3MHz for 5minutes) and phenytoin, the continuous phonophoresis group (CPG) was treated with continuous ultrasound (I=0.8W/cm2 and F=3MHz for 5minutes) and phenytoin, and the control group (CG) received topical phenytoin application with placebo ultrasound. RESULTS: The findings showed significant difference in favor of the continuous phenytoin phonophoresis group (CPG) over the other two groups, i.e. the pulsed phenytoin phonophoresis group (PPG) and the control group (CG). Thus, these results support the suggestion that the application of continuous phenytoin phonophoresis over the burn wound is very effective in accelerating the burn wound healing than topical application of phenytoin or pulsed phenytoin phonophoresis over the burn wound.