STUDY SUPPORTS LOW-INTENSITY PULSED ULTRASOUND FOR TREATMENT OF FRACTURE NON-UNIONS

 

 

 

 

Findings from this systematic review and meta-analysis indicated low-intensity pulsed ultrasound may be a viable alternative treatment for fracture non-unions. “[There] is documented efficacy and benefit shown when [low-intensity pulsed ultrasound] LIPUS treatment is used as an alternative to surgery for established non-unions,” study co-author J. Tracy Watson, MD, told Healio.com/Orthopedics. “With a strict definition of non-union reviewed, the rate of healing approached 84%. This modality was shown to be most effective when used on hypertrophic non-unions and when this treatment was initiated as soon as the last surgical procedure was deemed unsuccessful in achieving union. LIPUS treatment may be useful in those patients for whom surgery is high risk.”
 
According to researchers, hypertrophic non-unions compared with inactive atrophic non-unions had twice the chance of healing. “An interval of without surgery of [less] than 6 months prior to LIPUS was associated with a more favorable result,” the researchers wrote. Heal rates in upper extremity, long bone non-unions and lower extremity, long bone non-unions were not statistically significantly different.
 
Source: Leighton R, et al. Injury. 2017;doi:10.1016/j.injury.2017.05.016 via Monica Jaramillo, Healio
 
Courtesy of Barry Block, editor of PMP News.  
 
Brought to you by Doctor John A. Hardy, owner of Toronto's Foot Clinic, Academy Foot and Orthotic Clinics.
 
 

 

 

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