Delayed fracture healing
Study
Delayed fracture healing**
Authors, title of the study and source:
Sharrard WJ: A Double-Blind Trial of Pulsed Electromagnetic Fields for Delayed Union of Tibial Fractures. J Bone Joint Surg Br 1991;72B:347-355
Number of patients: 45
Disease:
Delayed healing of tibia fracture for > 16, however < 32 weeks.
Treatment:
Plaster for all 15 Hz, rectangular, 12 pcs/day, (over night), 12 weeks
Improvement:
Both radio logically and clinically significant improvement in the MFT group after 12 weeks of treatment
Remarks:
Multicenter Study (16 centres). The author has already made earlier double-blind studies of bone fractures, (Barker, Lancet 1984), where no MFT effect could be detected. Here he lists the reasons: The fractures arose more than one year before the treatment and were never cured (too long), the groups were not fully comparable, and the fractures had been treated mainly in different manners, and the placebo treatment also had MF activity. The author believes that this present study demonstrates the effectiveness completely. Explanation: effects on calcium balance and calcium on collagenous and Proteoglycan development and vascularisation.
** The treatment with pulsating magnetic field seems to be superior because of double blind controlled randomized studies of the Placebo-treatment.
* The treatment with pulsating magnetic field seems to be superior because of the controlled studies of the control-treatment.
