Femoral + tibial lengthening, 3.3 cm gained
A osteotomy for knee osteoarthritis case at the Dr. Donghoon institute (DALRI), Korea, 3.3 cm of bone lengthened (PRECICE), with 13 before and after radiographs.
- Category
- Osteotomy for knee osteoarthritis
- Gained
- 3.3 cm
- Height
- —
- Follow-up
- —
Drag the handle to compare before and after (arrow keys work too). Before and after osteotomy for knee osteoarthritis, case 16786712, image 2, Dr. Donghoon institute (DALRI)
About this case
This patient was treated in the bowlegs, knock knees & knee osteoarthritis group (osteotomy for knee osteoarthritis) at the Dr. Donghoon institute (DALRI) in Seoul.
The record states 3.3 cm of lengthening but no before/after height, so only the verified figure is shown.
The series on this page contains 13 images, in the order the hospital published them.
Technique and segment
PRECICE is a fully internal magnetically driven nail: there are no pin sites to care for, which means less pain and a faster return to daily life, but it carries limits on body weight and on the maximum length per segment.
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
At the standard rate of about 0.75 mm per day, the 3.3 cm gained here corresponds to roughly 44 days of distraction — about 1 months — before the consolidation phase begins.
The source record does not state the follow-up month. Lengthened bone typically consolidates fully around 12-18 months after surgery.
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.
