[Correction of a post-traumatic femoral length difference using an intramedullary distraction nail].

AIM: For the operative adjustment of a leg length shortening and for correcting an angular deformity, an external fixator is the most frequently used technique today. This method may, however, be complicated by painful soft tissue and muscle fixations, pin infections and psychic strain as well as by long treatment duration with the external fixator. The intramedullary skeletal kinetic distractor (ISKD) is an internal lengthening nail, which promises a postoperative course without further complications.
METHOD: We used the ISKD nail in a 28-year-old traumatised motorcyclist, in whom, after removal of a comminuted femur bone fragment, a leg length shortening of 8 cm resulted.
RESULTS: After uneventful healing of all fractures and having performed implant removal, we implanted an ISKD nail for femoral lengthening. The following distraction resulted, without considerable complications, in a complete compensation of the leg difference.
CONCLUSIONS: The ISKD nail is a suitable procedure to compensate for post-traumatic leg length differences, which exhibits, in contrast to the frequently used external fixator, a largely uncomplicated course. It cannot be used to correct a gross transverse or rotational deformity. © Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.