Limb shortening secondary to complications of vascular cannulae in the neonatal period.

Four cases of limb shortening presenting in childhood are described. All four children had been managed in a neonatal intensive care unit and had developed complications following the insertion of intravascular cannulae. In two, lower limb shortening and deformity were secondary to direct epiphyseal damage following extravasation of calcium or dextrose from a peripheral venous line. In the other two, forearm shortening followed ischaemia, secondary to either radial artery thrombosis from a radial artery cannula or spasm of the brachial artery following extravasation from a venous cannula in a neonate who also had a radial artery cannula. These cases highlight an important complication of the use of vascular cannulae in neonates and the problems this may pose to the orthopaedic surgeon.