Abstract

Introduction : Epiphysiodesis has become one of the most popular methods in the treatment of leg length discrepancy (LLD) due to its surgical simplicity, short hospitalization time, and a low risk of complications. Patients and Methods : A retrospective analysis was performed on 34 patients treated for LDD with percutaneus epiphisiodesis of the distal femur and/or the proximal tibia. The mean discrepancy was 2.8 cm. The outcome evaluation method was based on Kemnitz et al. Results : Based on the Kemnitz criteria, 23 (67.6%) patients experienced good results, while 2 (5.9%) satisfactory and 9 (26.5%) poor results. In 47% of patients, swellings of the knee joint were observed in the postoperative period. One serious complication – varus deformity of 10 degrees in femur occurred in the follow-up period. Conclusions : Percutaneous epiphysiodesis is a simple method of the LLD correction, with a low rate of complications and applicable in cases of late LDD diagnosis.