Biophysical Stimulation in Delayed Fracture Healing of Hand Phalanx: A Radiographic Evaluation

Biophysical Stimulation in Delayed Fracture Healing of Hand Phalanx: A Radiographic Evaluation

Phalangeal fractures are common events among the upper limbs accounting for 10% of all human body fractures. Fracture complete healing process may persevere several months or years. Most phalangeal fractures present favorable union within 3 to 6 weeks. In the literature, biophysical stimulation has...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biomedicines Vol. 10; no. 10; p. 2519
Main Authors: De Francesco, Francesco, Gravina, Pasquale, Varagona, Stefano, Setti, Stefania, Gigante, Antonio, Riccio, Michele
Format: Journal Article
Language:English
Published: Basel MDPI AG 01-10-2022
MDPI
Subjects:
biophysical stimulation
Bone healing
Bone surgery
Bones
delayed fracture
electromagnetic field
Fractures
Hand
Immobilization
Injuries
Medical equipment
non-union
Open fractures
Orthopedics
Patients
PEMF
phalangeal fracture
Rehabilitation
Skin
Surgery
Trauma
United States
United States > US
Italy
Europe
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Summary:Phalangeal fractures are common events among the upper limbs accounting for 10% of all human body fractures. Fracture complete healing process may persevere several months or years. Most phalangeal fractures present favorable union within 3 to 6 weeks. In the literature, biophysical stimulation has yielded favorable outcomes in the treatment of hand fractures. A survey involving hospitals in the US reported the use of biophysical stimulation (72%) in relation to nonhealing fractures at three months after trauma. A noninvasive procedure such as biophysical stimulation may be preferential prior to consideration of invasive procedures. In this retrospective study, we analyzed 80 phalangeal fractures, 43 of which did not show any radiographic sign of healing 30 days after surgery; on radiograms, we calculated radiographic data and the total active motion (TAM) for clinical comparison. All radiographic images were evaluated using Adobe Photoshop CS3 (version 10.0, Adobe Systems Inc., San Jose, CA, USA). We calculated the index of relative bone healing each month after surgery starting from 30 days, which was considered as T1, and followed up for a total of 6 months after stimulation (T6) with better results in stimulated groups. We concluded that prompt administration of biophysical stimulation supports fracture healing and yields an important improvement in the union rate compared with nontreatment. Above all, our patients experienced less injury-related distress between the fracture and repair period, which consequently reduced immobilization time, envisaging an early rehabilitation interval, with a better patient hand outcome.
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ISSN:2227-9059
2227-9059
DOI:10.3390/biomedicines10102519