Wound healing as an electromechanical feedback control system: Modeling and applications

Wounds are a major public health issue worldwide and have become a great challenge for the health care system. Pharmacologic methods are costly and not effective. Two promising physical techniques are used to accelerate wound healing: the mechanical vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) therapy and the more affordable and safer electromagnetic field therapies, including pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF), RF Diathermy, and DC electric fields. These electromagnetic techniques have been shown to be effective but are poorly understood and not widely used. In the following paper, finite-element modeling of skin wounds as a multiphysics electromechanical system is developed. It is shown that the naturally occurring endogenous electric field surrounding skin wounds results in an instantaneous intercellular electrical communication system and the automatic electromechanical closure of the wound. A model is proposed of wound as a physiological electromechanical feedback control system acting through mechanotransduction. Experimental evidence and applications are discussed.