Testing of two different implant concepts for growth plate modulation in sheep

AO TC System
D Gehweiler, D Nehrbass, N Goudsouzian, B Gueorguiev

Background

Leg length discrepancy (LLD) in children is a relevant problem in today's orthopedic surgery. If left untreated, LLD can lead to serious damage in adulthood. The standard treatment is the use of Eight Plates in the longer leg bridging the growth plate to slow down bone growth. However, this plate is not approved for LLD corrections and complications such as screw deformations or breakage can occur. In addition, it is difficult to determine the correct time for implant removal, not least because overshooting growth (rebound effect) may occur after removal.

 

Safranin O/Fast Green histological staining of sheep distal metatarsal bone with visualized growth plate; left: untreated leg; right: leg treated with the new implant prototype for LLD correction

 

Goal

To compare a new implant prototype to the existing Eight Plate in their ability to slow down bone growth in a sheep model. 

 

Results

Sheep metatarsal bones were operated with the 2 implant types for LLD correction, followed by implants removal 24 weeks post operation, growth monitoring for another 12 weeks, and histological analysis. The application of the new implant prototype seems to be advantageous over the Eight Plate, with no clearly observed rebound effect after its removal.

  • Partner

    Dwyer J (MD), University Hospital of North Staffordshire, Stoke-on-Trent, UK

    Slongo T (MD), University Children's, Hospital, Berne, Switzerland

    Narayanan U (Prof), University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada

    Mukhopadhaya J (MD), Paras Hospital, Patna, India

    Sepulveda M (MD), Universidad Austral de Chile, Valdivia, Chile

Completed