[Extracorporeal shockwave treatment of delayed bone healing. A critical assessment]

Since the late 1980s, experiments have been performed to influence physiologic and disturbed healing of bone. However, the mainly negative results of animal studies, cannot be applied to the human nonunion situation as long as there is no adequate animal pseudarthrosis model. Prospective clinical studies in various centres have resulted in success rates of more than 50%, although the majority of patients had been treated repeatedly and ineffectively with the gold standard of re-osteosynthesis and grafting. Since the mechanisms are not yet understood, only such desperate conditions are an indication for the application of high-energy extracorporal shock waves.