Objective: The aim of the study is to review the available literature on the use of Extracorporeal Shock Wave Therapy (ESWT) for the treatment of osteonecrosis (ON) and bone vascular disease (BVD), to understand its therapeutic potential and compare it with other therapies.
Materials and methods: A systematic review was performed on the PubMed, Scopus, Science Direct, and Research Gate databases with the following inclusion criteria: 1) randomized controlled trials (RCTs); 2) written in English; 3) published in indexed journals within the last 25 years (1995-2020); and 4) dealing with the use of ESWT for the treatment of BVD or ON. The risk of bias was assessed by the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool for RCTs.
Results: Five studies involving 199 patients in total (68 female and 131 male) were included. Patients in the control groups received different treatments, like surgery, bisphosphonates in combination with prostacyclin or ESWT, and hyperbaric oxygen therapy. Looking at the quality of the available literature, none of the studies included could be considered a "good quality" study; only one was ranked as "fair" and the remaining were marked "poor" quality studies. No major complications or serious adverse events were reported in any of the included studies. Based on the available data, ESWT can produce rapid pain relief and functional improvement.
Conclusions: Overall, a substandard quality of method emerged from the analysis of the literature, with most studies flawed by relevant bias. Ultimately, ESWT has the potential to be a useful conservative treatment in bone degeneration due to vascular and tissue turnover impairment.