Influence of femoral lengthening on hip joint space in posttraumatic femoral shortening

Abstract

We performed femoral lengthening for post-traumatic femoral shortening in 14 patients (10 men). The mean age was 26 (17–33) years. The callotasis method was employed using an Orthofix or a Hifixator monolateral external fixator. The average length gained was 6 (3–13) cm, equal to 16 (7–36)%. The mean narrowing ratio of the hip joint space during lengthening was 9 (0–26)% and the narrowing persisted at the final follow-up. Cases with narrowing greater than 5% had a longer time between the development of the shortening and the lengthening than the others (p = 0.03). Our findings indicate that femoral lengthening for posttraumatic femoral shortening should be done as early as possible to prevent the development of joint space narrowing during the lengthening procedure.