Leg Lengthening
November 24, 2004
OKLAHOMA CITY (Ivanhoe Broadcast News)–Lengthening procedures treat children who have legs of unequal lengths, usually involving differences of two inches or more. Often, bulky external hardware is used for the procedures. Now, a new device for kids leaves the hardware behind and puts the bounce back in their step.
Fifteen-year-old Kody Reed may have changed his “game” from football to basketball. But it was a change he didn’t make by choice. Last season, Reed broke a section of his bone called the growth plate during a football game. “There for a little while we thought I wasn’t ever going to be able to play again,” he says.
That accident brought Reed to pediatric orthopedist Joseph Davey, M.D.
“Unfortunately, he went through a big growth spurt, and because of that big change, one leg was growing at a lower rate, and they got mismatched,” Dr. Davey, of University of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City, tells Ivanhoe.
Reed’s bones had to be separated and an intramedullary skeletal kinetic distractor was inserted. It’s hard to pronounce, but easy to see the benefits.
Dr. Davey says, “We let the bone start to heal, and as that starts to heal, we then gradually pull the bone ends apart, and when we’re pulling it apart, it fills in with healing bone.” Before this new technology, patients had to wear bulky contraptions attached to the bones through the skin.
Reed says it was easy to make a comeback with the new device. “I’m really glad that I’m finally back in the game,” he says. He’s also back on equal footing with his teammates.
Dr. Davey says new growth must be watched closely so that the bone can solidify to support the patient’s weight. The new bone grows at about a millimeter a day.
If you would like more information, please contact:
Teresa Zachary
Assistant to Dr. Joseph Davey
University of Oklahoma
825 N.E. 10th St. Suite 1300
Oklahoma City, OK 73103
(405) 271-6458