Trends and Practices in Limb Lengthening: An 11-year US Database Study

Area of Science:

• Orthopedic surgery
• Biomedical engineering
• Health services research

Background:

• Limb lengthening procedures have evolved with new implants and techniques over the past two decades.
• Understanding current trends in utilization and outcomes is crucial for patient care and resource allocation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To analyze trends in limb lengthening techniques for femur and tibia in the US.
• To examine 1-year readmission rates following these procedures.
• To investigate the relationship between implant type, payment method, and diagnosis.

Main Methods:

• Utilized inpatient data from the Healthcare Cost and Utilisation Project (HCUP) database (2005-2015).
• Included patients with ICD-9 codes for femur or tibia lengthening (n=2,563).
• Employed descriptive statistics, chi-square tests, and linear regression for trend analysis.

Main Results:

• Significant increase in internal lengthening for femur (10.2%/year) and tibia (4.9%/year) from 2011-2015.
• A moderate decrease in 1-year readmission rates (1.07%/year) observed from 2005-2015.
• Short stature patients showed higher use of internal lengthening and self-payment.

Conclusions:

• Internal lengthening techniques have seen increased adoption between 2011 and 2015.
• Limb lengthening approach and payment method correlate with patient diagnosis, particularly in short stature cases.