Abstract
The authors performed femoral lengthening in two children using the Ilizarov technique. One was a 10-year-old boy with congenital shortening of the right femur (Pappas class IX). He had an 8 cm. limb-length discrepancy, which was treated by 8 cm. lengthening of the right femur in 1997. During the lengthening, the half-pins broke, which required the insertion of additional pins. At 16 years of age, his right lower limb was 2 cm. shorter than the left one, but he had good gait without a lift in the shoe.
The second patient was a 10-year-old boy with septic growth arrest of the right distal femur. He had an 8.5 cm. discrepancy, and 10 cm. femoral lengthening was achieved in 2001. However, at one month after the removal of the Ilizarov apparatus, the patient fell and fractured his right osteoporotic femur. It was fixed with an Ender nail, but a slight loss of length and varus deformity occurred. He had a 1 cm. discrepancy at 12 years of age.
In both children, the intended lengthening of the femur could be achived by the Ilizarov method, but the complications required additional surgery.
