Effect on knee disarticulation on bone growth in immature rabbits

This study was designed by the University of Ankara Experimental and Research Laboratory for animals in 1997. In the study an anteroposterior skin flap technique was used for 20 knee disarticulation amputations and also in 20 trans-femoral amputations on immature rabbits, in order to investigate their effects on the femoral epiphyseal growth plate. The femurs of the rabbits were observed radiographically for 8 weeks. It was observed that the femurs tended to grow at a slower rate compared to the normal contralateral femur.These studies showed that the disarticulated limb femurs grew 0.68cm shorter on average compared to the contralateral femurs and the femurs in the trans-femoral amputated limbs 3.58cm shorter on average compared to the contralateral ones. These results were found to be statistically significant.