Can lithotripsy be used for arthritis?

Answer 1

Why is there no answer to this? Lithotripsy is an obvious area for exploration as a potential alternative to joint replacement in treatment of osteoarthritis.

For those of us with calcium deposits in the joint, theoretically, lithotripsy should be capable of breaking up the abnormal depositions so the body could reabsorb the calcium while leaving the healthy bone and cartilage unaffected.

Perhaps it was only a dream, but prior to my osteoarthritis becoming debilitation, I remember coming across an article on the subject talking using lithotripsy in Arthritis as a promising new therapy. Then, could never find it again nor remember the source.

Of course, they do use "ultra-sound" to stimulate circulation to improve blood flow to the joint, but this article was discussion use of hyper-ultra-sonic like lithotripsy to actually break up the deposits.

At least one would suspect that such an obvious possibility would be the subject of research somewhere. But, alas, the United States Library of Medicine has absolutely nothing on this subject.

Could it be that once again, the medical research community has tilted in favor of radical invasive procedures (hip and knee replacements) that are economically favorable to surgeons, hospitals, and medical appliance manufacturers (the "Medical Industrial Complex") when a potentially cheap, safe and far more effective therapy is possible?