The importance of age in patients for the subsequent state of the growth cartilage lengthened by distraction epiphysiolysis

: The authors evaluated the state and behaviour of 18 growth cartilages in 16 patients lengthened by the method of distraction epiphysiolysis in 1974 to 1991 at the Clinic of Child Orthopaedics in Brno. Lengthening was performed in 8 boys and 8 girls in the area of the distal femur and/or proximal or distal tibia. The follow-up period of these patients was 2 to 8 years. The authors revealed that the bone age of the patient had a decisive effect on the state and behaviour of the lengthened epiphyseal growth plate. The mode and rate of release of the growth zone was the same, similarly as the rate of lengthening; despite this the patients could be divided into three defined groups: 1. The growth cartilage remained open, remained active and closed when the cartilages on the non-lengthened side closed. The bone age was on average 8 years. 2. The growth cartilage was apparent for a certain period (2 or more years) but closed sooner than on the non-lengthened side. The mean bone age was 10.35 years. 3. The growth cartilage disappeared already during distraction epiphysiolysis. The mean bone age was 14.3 years. The authors conclude that assessment of the bone age in patients where lengthening of bones by distraction epiphysiolysis is planned is very useful as it makes it possible to predict with a high probability further behaviour of the epiphyseal cartilage after its lengthening and thus the need of possible revision.