Use the Back button in your browser to see the other results of your search or to select another record.

Detailed Search Results

Pulsed magnetic field therapy for tibial non-union. Interim results of a double-blind trial
Barker AT, Dixon RA, Sharrard WJ, Sutcliffe ML
Lancet 1984 May 5;323(8384):994-996
clinical trial
7/10 [Eligibility criteria: No; Random allocation: Yes; Concealed allocation: No; Baseline comparability: Yes; Blind subjects: Yes; Blind therapists: Yes; Blind assessors: Yes; Adequate follow-up: Yes; Intention-to-treat analysis: No; Between-group comparisons: No; Point estimates and variability: Yes. Note: Eligibility criteria item does not contribute to total score] *This score has been confirmed*

Patients with tibial fractures which had remained un-united for at least 52 weeks were randomly allocated to either active or dummy pulsed magnetic field stimulators and treated in full leg plasters for 24 weeks with a non-weightbearing conservative regimen, as is usual with such techniques. Fractures in 5 of the 9 patients with working machines united and fractures in 5 of the 7 patients with dummy machines also united. These early results of this double-blind trial are compatible with a difference in success rate at 24 weeks on active treatment of +33% to -61% (95% confidence limits) compared with the success rate on the dummy stimulators. The high proportion of fractures uniting in the control group suggests that conservative management of non-union is effective and this may explain much of the success attributed to pulsed magnetic field therapy.

Full text (sometimes free) may be available at these link(s):      help