The significance of electrically stimulated osteogenesis: more questions than answers

The present technique of electrical osteogenesis represents the rediscovery of a method in clinical use over 100 years ago. That technique while reported to have excellent clinical results, was empirically applied and was totally discredited as having no scientific basis. Modern techniques report similarly useful clinical results, but similarly lack an accepted scientific basis. The techniques in present use differ so greatly among themselves that a common mechanism of action seems highly unlikely. Yet all report excellent clinical results. Serious questions are raised concerning the validity of the claims, the mechanism of action and the possibility of long-term undesirable side effects. These questions are not insoluble and the newer physical science disciplines seem well suited to reveal the mechanism of action. Appropriate research projects must be mounted and answers to these questions obtained before the technique is made available for wide application. The importance of this procedure far transcends orthopedic surgery and bone growth stimulation and if properly pursued, it may lead to revolutionary changes, not only in basic biology, but in the practice of clinical medicine in general.