Electrical stimulation in treatment of delayed union and nonunion of fractures and osteotomies

This study reviews the cases of 52 patients with 52 ununited fractures and osteotomies who were treated with two methods of electrical stimulation, one surgical, the other nonsurgical. Seventeen patients, 14 of whom had concomitant bone grafting, had implantation of a bone growth stimulator. There were three synovial pseudarthroses but no active infection in this group. The overall success rate in healing of the fractures was 82%. Thirty-five patients, of whom four had initial concomitant bone grafting, were treated with pulsing electromagnetic fields (PEMF). There were six draining infections but no pseudarthrosis in this group. Two nonunions healed after bone grafting was combined with PEMF treatment, when the latter alone had failed. Eighty-one percent of the fractures united, and drainage ceased in five of the six infections.