Twenty-two well established non-unions in twenty patients were treated
with a capacitively coupled electrical signal (sine wave, sixty kilohertz,
five volts peak to peak) that was applied non-invasively through
stainless-steel capacitor plates placed on the skin surface overlying the
approximate site of the non-union. The average age of the eleven female and
nine male patients in this series was 38.4 years, and the average duration
of the twenty-two non-unions was 3.3 years. Seventeen of the non-unions
were labeled recalcitrant, meaning that they had failed to heal after
either previous bone-grafting or another type of electrical stimulation, or
both. Five of the non-unions had not been previously treated. Seventeen
(77.3 per cent) of the non-unions achieved solid osseous union after an
average of 22.5 weeks of treatment with capacitive coupling. The results in
this small series were not affected by the non-union being recalcitrant, by
the fact that one patient bore full weight on the extremity in a cast, by
the presence of osteomyelitis, or by the presence of remaining metallic
internal-fixation devices in the bone. Since capacitive coupling is
non-invasive, involves portable equipment, allows full weight-bearing on
the lower extremity in a cast, is easy to apply, and does not require
precise localization of the capacitor plates, it has distinct advantages
over other methods of treating non-union with electricity.