Home Diseases and Conditions Bone Fracture

Bone Fracture

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Development Stage

Early Stage

Focused ultrasound research is in the laboratory phase and is not yet available for patients.

Clinical Trials

Focused ultrasound for this condition is being researched in clinical trials.

International Approval

Focused ultrasound is approved to treat this condition outside the US. Patients can seek commercial treatment at participating international sites.

FDA Approved

The US Food and Drug Administration has approved focus ultrasound for this condition. Patients can seek commercial treatment at participating sites.

Early Stage

Clinical Trials

International

FDA Approved

Focused ultrasound research for this condition is in the laboratory phase and is not yet available for patients.

Focused Ultrasound Therapy 

Focused ultrasound is a rapidly evolving, therapeutic technology that could transform the quality of life and decrease the cost of care for patients with fractures, especially displaced fractures of bone that are difficult to heal. This novel technology focuses beams of ultrasound energy precisely and accurately on targets deep in the body without damaging surrounding normal tissue. 

How it Works 

Where the beams converge, focused ultrasound produces several therapeutic effects that are being evaluated. The use of low intensity focused ultrasound has been evaluated for several different bone fractures, and it has been found to help in the restoration of fractures in the bone. This is similar to a non-focused, low intensity pulsed ultrasound (LIPUS) that is FDA approved and is marketed under the name of Exogen (https://www.exogen.com/en). We expect that evaluations using focused ultrasound to see if it furthers the benefit compared to existing devices.  

The primary options for treatment of fracture healing include medication and, in some cases, invasive surgery.  

For certain patients, focused ultrasound could provide a non-invasive alternative to surgery with less risk of complications and lower cost.  

Advantages 

  • Focused ultrasound is non-invasive, so it does not carry added concerns like surgical wound healing or infection.  
  • Focused ultrasound can reach the desired target without damaging surrounding tissue. 
  • It can be repeated, if necessary. 

Clinical Trials 

At the present time, there are no clinical trials recruiting patients for focused ultrasound treatment of bone fracture healing.  

The Foundation updates these pages regularly, but with the increasing number of clinical trials, we want to be sure that our audience has the latest information available. Therefore, we also added the website search information for the above trials. If you click here, it will take you to the latest information available from https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/. 

Regulatory Approval and Reimbursement  

Focused ultrasound treatment for bone fracture healing is not yet approved by regulatory bodies or covered by medical insurance companies. 

Notable Papers 

Yeingst TJ, Helton AM, Rawnaque FS, Arrizabalaga JH, Ravnic DJ, Simon JC, Hayes DJ. Focused Ultrasound-Mediated Release of Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 from Hydrogels for Bone Regeneration. Gels. 2025 Feb 6;11(2):120. doi: 10.3390/gels11020120. PMID: 39996663 

Palanisamy P, Alam M, Li S, Chow SK, Zheng YP: Low-intensity pulsed ultrasound stimulation for bone fractures healing: a review. J Ultrasound Med. 2022, 41:547-63 

Borole A, Trubiano J, Viqueira M, Kalahasti K, Stamos T, Kirschenbaum D, Katt BM.Cureus  Intrinsic and Extrinsic Methods for Augmenting Fracture Healing in the Hand and Wrist. 2024 Dec 2;16(12):e74972. doi: 10.7759/cureus.74972. eCollection 2024 Dec. PMID: 39744288  

Click here for additional references from PubMed.