Extracorporeal shock wave therapy treatment of painful hematoma in the calf:A case report

摘要

BACKGROUND Extracorporeal shock wave therapy (ESWT) can be applied to variousmusculoskeletal conditions including calcific tendinitis. Muscle injuries can leadto hematomas, and unabsorbed hematomas sometimes cause pain. We report acase of painful hematoma successfully treated with ESWT. To our knowledge, thisis the first reported case of painful intramuscular hematoma treated with ESWT.CASE SUMMARY A 65-year-old man visited the outpatient department for left calf pain withswelling that had persisted since he slipped two weeks prior. The calf pain hadpersisted and was rated visual analog scale 7. On physical examination, there wasa localized, stiff, ovoid mass on his left upper posterior calf. The pain wasaggravated by dorsiflexion of the left ankle or weight-bearing on the left foot.Initial diagnostic ultrasonography showed a hematoma in the left gastrocnemiusmuscle;its texture was firm with low heterogeneity. We applied ESWT to thehematoma. His pain decreased immediately to a visual analog scale 3, and themass was softened. The texture of the hematoma became more heterogeneous onultrasonography. Due to planned overseas travel, he returned three months afterthe initial visit to report that the pain and swelling were dramatically relievedafter ESWT.CONCLUSION We propose that painful hematomas could be a new indication for ESWT. Furtherinvestigation on the effects of ESWT for hematomas is needed.