Evidence map›Paper›PMID 41220603›Full record

ArticleJB & JS open access

Retrograde Intramedullary Femoral Lengthening With Acute Deformity Correction in Children, Adolescents, and Young Adults.

Mark T Dahl, Elizabeth P Wellings, Cole Funk, Andrew G Georgiadis

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Article in JB & JS open access. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

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1 · What the graph read from it

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2 · The registry

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3 · Its place in the literature

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4 · The record

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5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Mark T DahlDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Gillette Children's Hospital, St. Paul, Minnesota.
Elizabeth P WellingsDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5633-1026
Cole FunkMedical School, University of Minnesota-Duluth, Duluth, Minnesota.ORCID https://orcid.org/0009-0004-7124-9820
Andrew G GeorgiadisDepartment of Orthopaedic Surgery, Gillette Children's Hospital, St. Paul, Minnesota.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3624-8273

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Background: Acquired and congenital limb length discrepancies often coexist with deformities of the distal femur. Lengthening of the femur along its anatomic axis changes the limb's mechanical alignment. Angular correction and lengthening can be achieved at the same site if a retrograde lengthening nail is used with a specific preoperative planning method ("reverse planning") which permits patient-specific selection of the final mechanical axis. Methods: A consecutive cohort series of children, adolescents, and young adults (mean 15.6 ± 4.8 years) undergoing retrograde implantable femoral lengthening between the years 2011 and 2024 were analyzed. Surgical details, lengthening parameters, Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction Society (LLRS)-AIM index, accuracy of final correction, and complications were reviewed and classified. Patients were eligible only if the distal femoral physis was closed. Results: Seventy-three lengthening were eligible in the study period. Average lengthening was 4.2 ± 1.4 cm (range 2.0-8.0 cm), and consolidation index was 39.4 ± 21.9 days/cm. Deformities and length discrepancies were moderately complex, with a mean LLRS AIM score of 6 (range 1-13). Complication rates were similar to previous reports of intramedullary femoral lengthening, comparable between congenital (12 of 31, 39%) and acquired etiologies (16 of 42, 38%). Preoperative coronal alignment ranged from 14° varus to 20° valgus, while final coronal alignment was 0.4° ± 3.4° of neutral (range 7° valgus to 13° varus). Coronal deformities up to 20° and sagittal deformities up to 23° were corrected acutely at the lengthening site. Conclusions: Retrograde intramedullary femoral lengthening with acute deformity correction at the same site is an alternative to antegrade lengthening with separate osteotomy of the distal femur in children and adolescents. The reverse planning method allows reproducible length and deformity correction at the same location. Specific intraoperative technical adjuncts are used to achieve and maintain the desired alignment. Level of Evidence: Diagnostic Level IV. See Instructions for Authors for a complete description of levels of evidence.

Identifiers

PMID41220603
PMCPMC12599768

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.