A review of tibial lengthening procedures

Eight patients had tibial lengthening procedures according to Anderson's method. The necessity of early determination of callus formation and bone grafting, if necessary, is emphasized. The potential morbidity in this procedure is great and the parents must be made fully aware of them. As Anderson states, it is a procedure that should be reserved for the child between 8 and 12 years old with a predictable discrepancy between 4 and 15 cm. We believe it is a useful procedure in problems of unequal length of the lower limbs but should not be used whem simpler procedures such as femoral shortening or epiphyseal arrest are indicated.