Femoral lengthening, 7 cm gained
A cll precice case at the Dr. Donghoon institute (DALRI), Korea, 7 cm of bone lengthened (157 → 164 cm tall · PRECICE · 8 months post-op), with 10 before and after radiographs.
- Category
- CLL PRECICE
- Gained
- 7 cm
- Height
- 157 → 164 cm
- Follow-up
- 8 months
Drag the handle to compare before and after (arrow keys work too). Before and after cll precice, case 31554406, image 2, Dr. Donghoon institute (DALRI)
About this case
This patient was treated in the height increase (limb lengthening) group (cll precice) at the Dr. Donghoon institute (DALRI) in Seoul.
Height measured 157 cm before surgery and 164 cm once distraction was complete — a gain of 7 cm, as recorded by the hospital itself rather than estimated by us.
The series on this page contains 10 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.
The femur is wrapped in well-vascularised muscle, so the new bone usually consolidates faster than in the tibia and tolerates a larger gain per segment, at the cost of watching for knee stiffness and quadriceps weakness.
Timeline and how to read the radiographs
At the standard rate of about 0.75 mm per day, the 7 cm gained here corresponds to roughly 93 days of distraction — about 3 months — before the consolidation phase begins.
This series was taken 8 months after surgery. The new bone is approaching the density of native bone, and most patients are walking normally by this point.
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.
