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The most common treatment method for a fixed knee flexion contracture more than 10 degrees in cerebral palsy (CP) is distal femoral extension osteotomy (DFEO). However, a serious complication after a DFEO is neurological impairment. Its rates were reported as 5- 40%. Intraoperative neuromonitoring (IONM), widely used in spinal surgery and in other fields, is a valuable tool to define any neurological injury during operation. The aim of our study was to determine surgical steps with risk of neurological injury and to report if precautions would be effective in recovering signal loss. We performed IONM during DFEO of 23 knees of 12 children with CP. IONM was performed by recording somatosensory evoked potentials, transcranial motor evoked potentials and free-run electromyography during defined steps throughout the surgery. Preoperative and postoperative popliteal angles, flexion contractures and physeal posterior distal femoral angles were evaluated. We detected alert signals at osteotomy or manipulation steps of surgeries of all patients. We observed persistent alert signals in two cases (2 out of 23 knees; Group 2). In this group, the action potentials recovered only after 5 and 10 degrees of undercorrection at the osteotomy sites. Alert signals disappeared after a brief period of waiting in other cases. Throughout mean 37 months of follow-up, none of our patients experienced any neurological complication. The study concludes that the surgical steps in DFEO with a higher risk for a neurological complication were the osteotomy and manipulation steps. Alert signals were detected with the help of IONM, and preventive measures were effective in recovering neuromonitoring recordings., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

We designed a pediatric proximal femoral nail (PPFN) to overcome fixation method-related complications when performing femoral derotation osteotomy in cerebral palsy patients. Preliminary results of cerebral palsy patients who underwent femoral derotation osteotomy fixed using PPFN to treat in-toeing were evaluated. Sixteen patients with a mean age of 10 years were included. Mean follow-up duration was 36 months. There was no significant difference in the follow-up neck-shaft angle and articulotrochanteric distance values (P = 0.2 and 0.3). PPFN provides stable fixation, early weight-bearing, reduces soft-tissue disruption while limiting the complications due to fixation technique.

High complication rates were reported with the telescopic nail technique systems. To overcome such technical difficulties, we designed a corkscrew-tipped telescopic nail (CTTN). We biomechanically compared its pullout strength with that of two other tip designs. We used CTTN in 17 patients with osteogenesis imperfecta and reported their preliminary results. Average patient age was 82.6 months, and mean follow-up was 32.0±6 months. Telescoping and osteotomy site healing were assessed using radiological studies. Successful telescoping with event-free osteotomy site healing was achieved in 94.1% of patients; limited telescoping and delayed union were detected in one case each. Our results show that CTTN provides sufficient pullout strength and reduced complication rates compared with other designs.

The lateral exposure of the supracondylar femur includes the risk of damaging the neurovascular structures or tightening of the neurological structures within the popliteal fossa may occur as a complication of the osteotomy. Although different pathways of common peroneal nerve (CPN) have been reported throughout the literature, division of deep and superficial branches above the supracondylar femur level has not been reported. A 15-year-old boy with bilateral knee flexion contracture and spastic diplegic cerebral palsy underwent bilateral femoral distal extension osteotomy. The authors found an unusual higher division of CPN above the supracondylar femur level. This report is aimed at warning surgeons about the division of the CPN at a higher level and highlighting a need for a high-powered cadaveric research.

The aims of this study were to determine factors that cause a leg-length discrepancy (LLD) to the extent that correction is indicated after treatment in developmental dysplasia of the hip and determine whether the LLD may be treated with a percutaneous epiphysiodesis. Twelve children were included in this study. The factors which caused LLD were avascular necrosis, femoral shortening and varus at reduction, and septic arthritis. Percutaneous epiphysiodesis of the contralateral limb reduced the mean predicted LLD from 3.8 to 1.2 cm at maturity. We concluded that LLD (>2.5 cm) might result from complications of developmental dysplasia of the hip and these patients can be treated with a percutaneous epiphysiodesis.

A new technique using a hinged external fixator to stabilize an open reduction with pelvic and femoral osteotomies has been developed for treating high-dislocated hips in older children with developmental dislocated hip (DDH). This technique was performed in 11 patients (12 hips) at a mean age of 8.2 years. At follow up, radiographic results showed no redislocation/subluxation and clinical results demonstrated 11 hips as excellent/good and only one hip as poor from persistent stiffness. In conclusion, this new technique produces acceptable results in the treatment of older children with high dislocation of the hip from DDH.