Our aim is to evaluate life quality in patients with achondroplasia after lengthening. We examined 17 patients (11 men and 6 women) who finished the complete lengthening process in the 3 segments (tibia, femur, humerus) more than 3 years ago. Mean age 30.35 years(17–44). And a final height of 152.3cm (140.4–169) with an increase in the size of the tibia of 15.38cm, femur 14.91cm and humerus 9.91cm. Life quality is assessed by the SF.36 test and a specific questionnaire for low size people. The results show that the mental health component (52.2) and physical component (52.8) are similar to those of general American population. There is also a statistical correlation between the final height and better results on the Mental Health questions of SF.36 (p=0.013) and the psychological questions of the specific questionnaire (p=0.045). Achondroplasic patients after lengthening have a standard life quality and the increase of their height improves the mental health aspects of life quality

Introduction. Distraction histogenesis is utilised for cosmetic reasons in patients with constitutional short stature, achondroplasias, or height dysphoria. One of the considerations of patients and surgeons alike, is the preservation of aesthetically acceptable body proportions after the lengthening i.e which segment of the lower limb to lengthen and by how much, in order to preserve the patient's proportions within -or as close as possible to- the normal range of human body proportions. Sound anthropometric data on the normal range of the human body proportions is currently lacking. The aim of this study is to calculate the normal range of the ratio between the lengths of the lower limb, upper limb, femur, tibia, stature and trunk. Methods. Data form standardized measurements of the lengths of the tibia, femur, arm, stature, lower limb, upper limb was obtained from a sample population of 6068 healthy men and women servicing in the US Army. The mean, median, range and standard deviation were calculated for the following ratios of lengths: whole lower limb/leg, Stature/leg, Whole lower limb/thigh, Stature/thigh, Siting height/whole lower limb, Stature/Whole lower limb, Arm Span/Stature, Whole upper limb/Whole lower limb. Results. The ratios show normal distribution. Results are presented separately for men and women for the total sample population and for subgroups based on ethnic origin (White, Black, Hispanic and Asian). Discussion. This study is one of the first to provide specific anthropometric data from a large sample population relevant to the evidence-based preoperative planning and patient counselling before cosmetic limb lengthening procedures

Purpose. Angular deformity in the lower extremities can result in pain, gait disturbance, cosmetic deformity and joint degeneration. Up until the introduction of guided growth in 2007, which has since become the gold standard, treatment for correcting angular deformities in skeletally immature patients had been either an osteotomy, a hemiepiphysiodesis, or the use of staples. Methods. We reviewed the surgical records and diagnostic imaging in our childrens hospital to identify all patients who had guided growth surgery since 2007. All patients were followed until skeletal maturity or until their metalwork was removed. Results. 113 patients, with 147 legs were assessed for eligibility. Three were excluded for various reasons including inadequate follow-up or loss of records. Of the 144 treated legs which met the criteria for final assessment 32 (22.2%) were unsuccessful, the other 112 (77.8%) were deemed successful at final follow up. Complications were few, but included infection in one case and metal failure in another. Those with a pre-treatment diagnosis of idiopathic genu valgum/genu varum had a success rate of 83.6%. Conclusions. In our hands, guided growth had a seventy-eight percent success rate when all diagnosis were considered. Those procedures that were unlikely to be successful included growth disturbances due to mucopolysaccharide storage disease (28% failure rate), Blounts disease (66.6% failure rate) and achondroplasia (37.5% failure rate). If you exclude those three diagnoses, success rate for all other conditions was 81.4%. We continue to advocate the use of guided growth as a successful treatment option for skeletally immature patients with limb deformity