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| Limb
Lengthening |
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| About
the Program |
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External fixation can be used to correct limb length discrepancies
and deformities with different causes including:
- Trauma,
including growth plate fractures, malunion (where
the bones heal crooked), nonunion (where bone heals
incompletely), shortening and deformity due to bone
loss.
- Congenital limb length
discrepancies. These conditions are
associated with many birth defects and deformities
including short femur, fibular hemimela, pseudoarthrosis
and hemiatrophy.
- Short stature including achondroplasia
and other skeletal dysplasias and constitutional short
stature. External fixators are effective
in treating limb length discrepancies linked to dwarfism.
Treatment may be appropriate in some cases in order
to allow the patient to function more independently.
- Infection involving
the bone (osteomylelitis) and joint (septic arthritis).
Treatment of bone infection often requires removal
of bone segments which may results in angular deformities
and limb length discrepancies.
- Developmental causes which are related to the slowing
of growth and limb deformities
caused by illness such as Blount's Disease,
which typically affects the bone development of overweight
toddlers and adolescents.
- External fixators are also used in the treatment
of pediatric hip disorders
such as Developmental Coxa Vara (DCV), Perthes disease
and Slipped Capital Femoral Epiphyses (SCFE).
- Joint stiffness following
injury, infection or other causes
can sometimes be addressed by controlled joint distraction
(arthrodiatasis), with the use of external fixators.
- Soft tissue scarring
such as after burns and multiple surgeries for club
foot correction can be addressed with
gradual distraction techniques.
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Conditions
Treated 
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