arm lengthening surgery

Forum for parents of injured who are seeking information from other parents or people living with the injury. All welcome
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barb4alex
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 21, 2003 12:45 pm

arm lengthening surgery

Post by barb4alex »

hi My daughter was told that my granddaughter needs a surgery (treatment) where the bone is broken and a device is used to lengthen the arm by adjusting the device regularly(i am assuming this is to keep pressure on the arm) Has anyone had this done or can you tell me anything about it thanks barb
ptrefam
Posts: 674
Joined: Fri Jan 06, 2006 5:19 pm

Re: arm lengthening surgery

Post by ptrefam »

It sounds like they will use a fixator. Dustin didn't have it but 2 people that were in the hospital at the time he was did. Theirs were on the legs. It was screwed into the bone and ran outside the leg. I think it was like every 6 hrs. they had to turn the allen screws 1/4 turn. This amounted to a very small movement. It was explained that it then kept the bone growing toward each other and could lengthen it. I think one of the boys was missing 4" of bone after his accident and they used this to encourage it to grow to make up for the missing bone.
Sue
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marieke
Posts: 1627
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2005 6:00 pm
Injury Description, Date, extent, surgical intervention etc: LOBPI
no external rotation against gravity, can only go to 90 degree fwd flexion, no hand-to-mouth
1 surgery at age 14 (latissimus dorsi transfer). In 2004, at age 28 I was struck with Transverse Myelitis which paralyzed me from the chest down. I recovered movement to my right leg, but need a KAFO to walk on my left leg. I became an RN in 2008.
Location: Montreal, Qc, Canada
Contact:

Re: arm lengthening surgery

Post by marieke »

Hi, there was a post on this a few weeks back. Search for Ilizarov. That is what the procedure is called. They break the bone, put the fixator aound it, consists of pins through the bone, with external rings to "fixate" the whole thing. The bone is "stretched" a little every day.
Here is a link to show you what it does/how it works...

http://www.vardaan.net/ilizarov.htm

Marieke
Marieke Dufresne RN
34, LOBPI
http://nurse-to-be08.blogspot.com
User avatar
marieke
Posts: 1627
Joined: Fri Apr 01, 2005 6:00 pm
Injury Description, Date, extent, surgical intervention etc: LOBPI
no external rotation against gravity, can only go to 90 degree fwd flexion, no hand-to-mouth
1 surgery at age 14 (latissimus dorsi transfer). In 2004, at age 28 I was struck with Transverse Myelitis which paralyzed me from the chest down. I recovered movement to my right leg, but need a KAFO to walk on my left leg. I became an RN in 2008.
Location: Montreal, Qc, Canada
Contact:

Re: arm lengthening surgery

Post by marieke »

Marieke Dufresne RN
34, LOBPI
http://nurse-to-be08.blogspot.com
Marnie
Posts: 442
Joined: Wed Apr 24, 2002 1:14 pm

Re: arm lengthening surgery

Post by Marnie »

There are pictures on Dr. Nath's website, go to:
http://www.drnathbrachialplexus.com/web ... =5&limit=5
go to page 2.
barb4alex
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed May 21, 2003 12:45 pm

Re: arm lengthening surgery

Post by barb4alex »

hi thank you all for the help the sites are very informative i can see why my daughter is having a difficult time thinking about this procedure thanks again barb
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 19873
Joined: Mon Nov 16, 2009 9:59 pm

Re: arm lengthening surgery

Post by admin »

my daughter (7) is currently going through this right
now. She had the Illizarov put on on Feb 3rd.

I tried to contact you directly, but your email addr didn't work for me. Contact me directly and I will be happy to answer any
questions..

Missy.
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