System to Lengthen Limb Deformities

Clinical data from a multisite study of patients with deformed limbs have shown that a new limb lengthening system is safe and also effective at internally lengthening limb deformities, with few complications and minimal disruption of a patient's lifestyle. The data were presented at the annual Limb Deformity Meeting in Baltimore, MD (USA).

The study involved 15 males and 10 females with a mean age of 34 years, whose limbs needed to be lengthened by as much as 80 mm. Most of the patients required limb lengthening as a result of trauma to a limb. The lengthening technique relies on the body's own ability to heal itself through the process of distraction osteogenesis, achieved by surgically applying a fixator, either externally or internally, to the affected bone. The new system, called ISKD (intramedullary skeletal kinetic distracter), uses a magnetic sensor to monitor the limb lengthening progress on a daily basis.

"The results of this study show that the new ISKD technology from Orthofix, which is a completely internal lengthener with noninvasive monitoring of the lengthening process, provides fewer scars, greater patient comfort, and a much more normal life during treatment than the external devices,” said Mark T. Dahl, M.D., of the Limb Length Center in Minneapolis (MN, USA), one of the clinical investigators in the study.

Orthofix International N.V. (Huntersville, NC, USA) has exclusively licensed the ISKD system from Orthodyne, Inc., whose president invented the system.




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