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Bilateral tibial lengthening over the nail: our experience of 143 cases

  • Orthopaedic Surgery
  • Published:
Archives of Orthopaedic and Trauma Surgery Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Introduction

Using lengthening over an intramedullary nail as a technique for cosmetic purposes improves the individuals’ quality of life and provides more satisfactory results due to less external fixator period.

Methods

This study reports a case series of 143 individuals who underwent bilateral tibial lengthening over an intramedullary nail for cosmetic purposes together with the review of parameters related to the surgery and complications. Level of satisfaction was measured with the standard visual analog scale at least 1 year after removal of external fixator.

Results

In this study, mean (SD) age of patients was 26.6 (7.26) years. 85 (59.4 %) participants were male and 58 (40.6 %) were female. Mean end lengthening of all individuals was 6.65 cm. The mean external fixator period was 93.7 days. Complication rate was 0.74 per segment but it decreased to 0.45 when pin-tract infection was excluded. Complications were categorized based on Paley et al.’s classification as 129 problems, 85 obstacles and no sequelae. Interestingly, 44 (30.8 %) individuals had no problem and obstacle.

Conclusions

Lengthening over an intramedullary nail provides bone formation in equal quality to that obtained by the conventional Ilizarov method, along with lower rate of complications. The large number of individuals involved in our study is a remarkable benefit which could be used as an appropriate sample to compare results for outcomes and complications.

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Conflict of interest

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Sina Shemiran Surgery Center, Mahrouzadeh Alley, Shariati St, Tehran, Iran

    Nader Motallebi Zadeh, Seyedeh Hamideh Mortazavi, Siavash Khaki, Ashraf Karbasi & Sedigheh Ostad Rahimi

  2. School of Medicine, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Seyedeh Hamideh Mortazavi & Siavash Khaki

  3. Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Kazem Heidari

  4. Baqiyatallah Research Center of Gastroenterology and Liver, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Ashraf Karbasi

Authors
  1. Nader Motallebi Zadeh
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  2. Seyedeh Hamideh Mortazavi
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  3. Siavash Khaki
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  4. Kazem Heidari
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  5. Ashraf Karbasi
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  6. Sedigheh Ostad Rahimi
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Correspondence to Nader Motallebi Zadeh.

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Motallebi Zadeh, N., Mortazavi, S.H., Khaki, S. et al. Bilateral tibial lengthening over the nail: our experience of 143 cases. Arch Orthop Trauma Surg 134, 1219–1225 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00402-014-2069-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00402-014-2069-6

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