Treatment of nonuniting osteotomies with pulsating electromagnetic fields. A controlled animal experiment.

To evaluate treatment of nonunions or pseudarthrosis in humans by pulsating electromagnetic fields (PEMF), the authors tested the method in four- to six-year-old beagle dogs with midshaft osteotomies of both ulnae. This type of osteotomy in dogs leads to nonunion. After surgery one foreleg of each dog was stimulated for an average of 25 days; the second foreleg served as a control. Subsequently all ulnae were harvested, radiographs were obtained, and the stiffness of the callus was mechanically tested. Thus, the reputed efficiency is not confirmed by controlled experiments on dogs. The stimulated bones were neither radiologically nor mechanically superior to the controls.