Paper about intramedullary nail lengthening / Frank Birkholtz

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I recently came across this article (published April 2016) by our well-known Dr. Birkholtz: "Evaluation of the first experience of intramedullary nail lengthening using PRECICE® in a South African limb lengthening and reconstruction unit"

http://www.scielo.org.za/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S1681-150X2016000100009

I think it is an interesting lecture for us the future LLers. I recommend reading it entirely, but as a brief resume, a total of nine patients underwent the limb lengthening procedure in 11 limb segments. Average lengthening was 45.18 mm (15 to 65 mm range)

Two points I found particularly interesting:

- There were 2 complications (2 out of 9... higher ratio than other studies I found). One of them does not worry me, honestly, as happened in a previously lengthened part of the bone (quite strange) The second was a failure of nail distraction during femoral lengthening (apparently caused by an insufficient reaming), so the nail had to be replaced... I wonder if the patient was charged for this.

- In the discussion, Dr. Birkholtz defends the use of PRECICE over other intramedullary nails. However, the links provided to defend this claim (when compared to Fitbone) do not really convince me. Curiously (or maybe not) I think I am still to find an article about a particular intramedullary nail that does not end with a strong recommendation of that nail...

Hope this is interesting for someone!

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Quote from: Antonio on August 25, 2016, 08:37:07 AMWhat would be interesting to see would be the same doctor operating on the same patient with Fitbone and PRECICE in different femurs.

I offered myself as a volunteer if there is some kind of... incentive