(Vienna, 28 November 2019) Richard Crevenna, Head of the Department of Physical Medicine, Rehabilitation and Occupational Medicine at MedUni Vienna, won the 1st poster prize at the Meeting of the Austrian Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (ÖGPMR). With the presentation entitled "Shock wave therapy for cancer patients", he and his co-authors (M. Mickel, C. Wiederer, R. Celoud and M. Keilani) pointed to the huge relevance of shock wave therapy, which was contraindicated for cancer patients up until 2016. Independently of this, the topic was also published in the leading journal "Supportive Care in Cancer".
In addition to their underlying illness, cancer patients often also suffer from musculoskeletal pain syndromes, which make it impossible for them to perform the medical exercise therapy that would help with their survival and quality of life. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) it is an effective method for treating many of these musculoskeletal symptoms. Cancer as an underlying disease has not, in itself, been regarded as a contraindication for the use of ESWT since 2016. In the general population not suffering from cancer, plantar fasciitis and heel spurs, calcified shoulder, tennis elbow and achillodynia are standard indications that can be effectively treated. Other indications – that are of particular interest and relevance in cancer patients – such as erectile dysfunction, polyneuropathy and lymphoedema – constitute so-called expert indications or "off-label use". The Medical University of Vienna's Department of Physical Medicine, Rehabilitation and Occupational Medicine plans to conduct clinical trials on polyneuropathy and lymphoedema.
About Richard Crevenna
Richard Crevenna is Head of the Department of Physical Medicine, Rehabilitation and Occupational Medicine at MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital.
Service
Crevenna R, Mickel M, Keilani M. Extracorporeal shock wave therapy in the supportive care and rehabilitation of cancer patients. Support Care Cancer. 2019 Nov;27(11):4039-4041. doi: 10.1007/s00520-019-05046-y. Epub 2019 Aug 24.
Crevenna R, Mickel M, Wiederer C, Celoud R, Keilani M. Shock wave therapy for cancer patients. Annual Meeting of the ÖGPMR in Vienna on 08 and 09 November 2019