Femoral + tibial lengthening
A complex deformity case at the Dr. Donghoon institute (DALRI), Korea (5 months post-op), with 15 before and after radiographs.
- Category
- Complex deformity
- Gained
- —
- Height
- —
- Follow-up
- 5 months
Drag the handle to compare before and after (arrow keys work too). Before and after complex deformity, case 16212774, image 2, Dr. Donghoon institute (DALRI)
About this case
This patient was treated in the complex & post-trauma deformity group (complex deformity) at the Dr. Donghoon institute (DALRI) in Seoul.
This is an alignment or limb-length correction, so the source record carries no centimetre gain; the result is read from the mechanical axis on the radiographs instead.
The series on this page contains 15 images, in the order the hospital published them.
Technique and segment
The source record does not name the technique used here. The choice between an external frame, an internal nail, or a hybrid depends on the segment, the target length, and each patient's soft-tissue condition.
Lengthening the femur and tibia together gives the largest total gain and keeps upper- and lower-leg proportion balanced, but recovery and physiotherapy take clearly longer than a single-segment case.
Timeline and how to read the radiographs
In deformity-correction cases the distraction phase is shorter than in height cases, because the goal is realignment rather than distance gained.
This series was taken 5 months after surgery. The regenerate is not yet fully opaque, which is the expected appearance at this stage.
Daily physiotherapy through the distraction phase is the single strongest predictor of the result: patients who stop stretching run into joint stiffness far more often than into problems with the bone itself.
All images are published by the Dr. Donghoon institute (DALRI) and shown with permission. Individual results vary; these cases are not a guarantee of outcome.
