Purpose: To assess the effect of repeated extracorporeal shock waves (ESW) on renal parenchyma of normal and diabetic rats.
Methods: 40 normal rats (A) and 40 diabetic rats (B) were assigned for ESW (Direx Tripter X1 - 14 KVA) as follow: A1/B1 and A3/B3 no ESW; A2/B2 one ESW (2,000 SW); A4/B4 two ESW (4,000 SW) in an elapsed 14 days. All the animals were sacrificed 3 days after the ESW and samples of renal parenchyma were histological prepared, stained by H&E. For each animal the frequency of hemorrhage focus (HF) in the subcapsular, interstitial and glomerulus area was calculated (percentage) on 20 randomly histological sections.
Results: No one HF was identified in all normal or diabetic animals without ESW (A1, A3 and B1, B3). In the normal rats the HF frequency was similar to one ESW (subcapsular =15%; interstitial =20% and glomerular =10%) or repeated ESW (subcapsular =25%; interstitial =20%; glomerular=10%). In diabetic rats the occurrence of HF with repeated ESW was more frequent (subcapsular =40%; interstitial =30% and glomerular =10%) than with a single ESW (subcapsular =25%; interstitial =15% and glomerular =15%).
Conclusion: A single ESW or a repeated ESW caused a mild and similar damage on renal cortex of normal rats. In diabetic rats the repeated ESW may result in an accumulated damage, especially with focus of hemorrhage in subcapsular and interstitial tissue and glomerulus edema.