The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of
LIPUS on fracture healing of distal radius. The times (15 min/day
for at least 12 weeks) to clinical healing in the LIPUS group was
significantly shortened compared with that in the control group.
This result indicated that LIPUS could increase bone formation
at the fracture site (Figure 1) and accelerate the fracture healing
of distal radius. In terms of the application of LIPUS to forearm
fractures, Kristiansen et al.
12 perform a randomized, controlled trial
of 85 patients with metaphyseal fractures of the distal radius treated
with LIPUS. The mean time to fracture healing was significantly
reduced by 34% in the LIPUS group. In the present study, the
values of reduction time by LIPUS were 20% for clinical healing.
Moreover, there was no difference in reposition between the two
groups (p >0.05) in the present study, and the therapeutic effects
of LIPUS were not satisfactory. The possible reasons were not
difficult to explore. Firstly, the mean age of patients was more
than 60 years and many of them were osteoporotic. Although the
reposition efficacy was good initially, the bone might be shorten
or translocated during fracture healing process. Secondly, some
patients suffered from severe injuries and the fracture was unstable,
the fixation with plaster could not maintain the position. In addition,
the reposition efficacy was also determined by good reposition at
the moment of fracture, firm external fixation, bone mineral density
at the fracture and the fracture type. Thus, there was no different in
reposition efficacy in the ultrasound treatment group