University Medical Centre Rotterdam, Department of Orthopaedics, Erasmus MC, PO Box 2040, 3000CA Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
UMC Utrecht, Department of Orthopedics and Department of Rheumatology, PO Box 85500, 3508 Utrecht, the Netherlands.
Bone Joint Res. 2014 Jul;3(7):230-5. doi: 10.1302/2046-3758.37.2000221.
Electromagnetic fields (EMF) are widely used in musculoskeletal disorders. There are indications that EMF might also be effective in the treatment of osteoporosis. To justify clinical follow-up experiments, we examined the effects of EMF on bone micro-architectural changes in osteoporotic and healthy rats. Moreover, we tested the effects of EMF on fracture healing.
EMF (20 Gauss) was examined in rats (aged 20 weeks), which underwent an ovariectomy (OVX; n = 8) or sham-ovariectomy (sham-OVX; n = 8). As a putative positive control, all rats received bilateral fibular osteotomies to examine the effects on fracture healing. Treatment was applied to one proximal lower leg (three hours a day, five days a week); the lower leg was not treated and served as a control. Bone architectural changes of the proximal tibia and bone formation around the osteotomy were evaluated using in vivo microCT scans at start of treatment and after three and six weeks.
In both OVX and sham-OVX groups, EMF did not result in cancellous or cortical bone changes during follow-up. Moreover, EMF did not affect the amount of mineralised callus volume around the fibular osteotomy.
In this study we were unable to reproduce the strong beneficial findings reported by others. This might indicate that EMF treatment is very sensitive to the specific set-up, which would be a serious hindrance for clinical use. No evidence was found that EMF treatment can influence bone mass for the benefit of osteoporotic patients. Cite this article: Bone Joint Res 2014;3:230-5.
电磁场（EMF）广泛应用于肌肉骨骼疾病。有迹象表明，电磁场也可能对骨质疏松症的治疗有效。为了证明临床随访实验的合理性，我们研究了电磁场对骨质疏松症和健康大鼠骨微观结构变化的影响。此外，我们还测试了电磁场对骨折愈合的影响。
在接受卵巢切除术（OVX；n=8）或假卵巢切除术（sham-OVX；n=8）的大鼠（20 周龄）中检查电磁场（20 高斯）。作为潜在的阳性对照，所有大鼠均接受双侧腓骨切开术以检查对骨折愈合的影响。每天治疗三个小时，每周治疗五天，对一侧小腿近端进行治疗；对另一侧小腿不进行治疗作为对照。在治疗开始时、治疗后 3 周和 6 周时，使用体内 microCT 扫描评估胫骨近端的骨结构变化和骨切开处周围的骨形成。
在 OVX 和 sham-OVX 组中，在随访过程中，电磁场均未导致松质骨或皮质骨发生变化。此外，电磁场也未影响腓骨切开处周围矿化骨痂的体积。
在这项研究中，我们无法重现其他人报告的强烈有益的发现。这可能表明电磁场治疗对特定的设置非常敏感，这将严重阻碍临床应用。没有证据表明电磁场治疗可以增加骨质疏松症患者的骨量。
Bone Joint Res 2014;3:230-5.
