Found an interesting study from a year ago, that systematically evaluated whether low intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) or pulsed electromagnetic fields (PEMF) have significant effects on regenerate bone growth.
Regenerate bone stimulation following limb lengthening: a meta-analysis (BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2016; 17: 407.)
Overall, the mean healing index was 11.7 days/cm faster when using bone stimulation tha[n] in the comparison cohorts (33.7 vs 45.4 day, standardized mean difference of 1.16; p = 0.003).
After systematically evaluating the limited and heterogeneous current literature, we found that LIPUS and PEMF both decreased the time for bone healing (healing index in days/cm) of the newly formed regenerate bone in an adequately selected cohort of patients that underwent limb lengthening. However, a high number of complications should be noted, which could be attributed to the lengthening procedure or to the additional bone stimulation.
Note that if you read the whole study,
- the number of reported complications was only 11-12 out of 141 patients total (however, only two out of the seven studies reported complications)
- all patients used external fixation devices
- none were treated for cosmetic LL
This makes me think that for CLL, this procedure should reliably and safely speed up recovery.
How come none of the doctors discussed here seems to use it?