The treatment of nonunions without electrical stimulation.

In most cases of nonunions, healing occurs with rigid fixation of the fragments alone and without any electric stimulation. Most non-unions are programmed by nature to unite. In the majority of cases, the bone ends are well vascularized, much more so than in fresh fractures. Therefore, grafting after rigid fixation is generally unnecessary. Autologous cancellous bone transplant, however, is essential in avascular and infected nonunions. Rigid fixation not only has a very high rate of union, but also the advantage that malalignment and shortening can be corrected and that functional after treatment is possible. Nonsurgical treatments, including electrical stimulation, may also produce union but cannot correct concomitant deformity or other disabling lesions of the limb.