Doctors in the Scottish city which pioneered the use of ultrasound to scan the body are now using it to heal broken bones. Orthopedic surgeon Angus MacLean has been using the technology at Glasgow's Royal Infirmary's fracture clinic.
It has been shown to speed up recovery times for patients with severe fractures by more than a third. Ultrasound was first developed as a diagnostic tool in Glasgow in the 1950s.
"It's a very interesting scientific development and there's good evidence that it just vibrates the cells a little which then stimulates healing and regeneration in the bone."
Ultrasound waves are used at a slightly different frequency and a slightly different pulse. Research suggests this encourages cells to remove bacteria, stimulates the production of new bone cells and encourages those cells to mature more rapidly.
It is expected the cost of using ultrasound to treat fractures will reduce over time, making it a cheap way to speed up the healing of common fractures as well as complex ones.
Reference: BBC.co.uk
