Table 4.

Summary of study and patient characteristics

Study	Study type	Patients (M/F)	Mean ages (years)	Mean defect sizes (cm, range)	Treatment type (trifocal/bifocal)	Bone union rate	Bony results (excellent/good/fair/poor)	Functional results (excellent/good/fair/poor)	EFI (days/cm)	Follow-up (months)
Abuomira et al. [41]	IBT	55 (44/11)	41.5	7.1 (3–17)	29/26	89%	28/18/5/4	25/21/5/4	nr	50
Bernstein et al. [42]	IBT	30 (24/6)	43	5.7 (1.6–12)	0/30	77%	27/2/0/1	27/1/0/0	nr	33
Meleppuram et al. [43]	IBT	42 (32/10)	38	nr (2.5–5.5)	nr/36	100%	25/6/11/0	23/13/2/4	nr	14
Kinik et al. [44]	IBT	30 (28/2)	39.5	8.1 (6–15)	0/30	96.66%	22/6/0/0	19/7/2/0	44.7	32.5
Fahad et al. [45]	IBT	51 (41/10)	45.7	3.5 (2–5)	0/51	96%	22/19/7/3	24/21/4/2	60	36.8
Rohilla et al. [46]	IBT	70 (62/8)	31.3	5.8 (3–9) vs 5.8 (3–10)	0/70	77% vs 80%	35/27/3/5	38/27/1/3	63.6 vs 63.3	33.8 vs 32.6
Catagni et al. [21]	IBT	86 (77/9)	42 vs 43	13.5 (10.5–16.5) vs 12.5 (9.6–14.4)	41/45	100%	68/11/3/4	47/21/14/4	41/44	nr
Zhang et al. [47]	IBT	16 (9/7)	39.1	10.9 (6–20)	16/0	100%	10/0/6/0	12/4/0/0	33	29.5
Li et al. [48]	IBT	26 (20/6)	40.4	10.7 (7.5–15) vs 7.2 (5.8–9)	13/13	100%	20/0/6/0	22/4/0/0	36.6 vs 75.6	28.5
Paley et al. [49]	IBT	19 (14/5)	38	10.7 (2–20)	6/13	100%	15/3/1/0 (paley)	12/6/1/0 (paley)	51	78
Tone et al. [50]	IM	20 (15/5)	39.9	6.69	–	100%	5/10/4/1	8/9/3/0	54.9	23.2
Morris et al. [11]	IM	12 (9/3)	35	5.8 (2–15)	–	42%	nr	nr	nr	22.5
El-Alfy et al. [51]	IM	15 (12/3)	32	8 (5–14)	–	87%	nr	nr	nr	23
Present study	IM + IBT	18 (12/6)	40.4	6.8 (6–8.2)	18/0	100%	6/8/3/1	4/10/2/2	37.1	28.5

EFI external fixation index, M male, F female, IBT Ilizarov bone transport, IM induced membrane, nr not reported