Treatment of malunion of the lower extremities by the Ilizarov technique

From June 1989 to February 1992, 22 patients with post-traumatic malunion of the lower limbs were surgically treated by the Ilizarov technique in our hospital. Their average age was 23.0 years (range, 10.4-38.7 years). The average follow-up time was 35.7 months (range, 18-50 months). They were divided into group A (14 cases): those with post-traumatic shortening only (average shortening: 4.0 cm for the femur, 4.0 cm for the tibia) and group B (eight cases): those with combined post-traumatic shortening and angular deformity (average shortening, 4.6 cm for the femur, 2.7 cm for the tibia; average angulation, 17.1 degrees). After treatment by the Ilizarov technique, only one case had a residual leg length discrepancy of more than 1.5 cm. The average residual angular deformity in group B was 0.4 degrees. The therapeutic indexes in group B (53 days/cm for femur, 91 days/cm for tibia) were slightly longer than that in group A (46 days/cm for femur, 45 days/cm for tibia). In total, nine obstacles or complications were encountered in our 22 patients. Three of them required further surgical management. It is concluded that the Ilizarov technique provides excellent results in the treatment of lower-limb malunions with relatively few complications.