Callus formation in the humerus compared with the femur and tibia during limb lengthening

We investigated whether the callus formation in the humerus during the distraction period of limb lengthening proceeds at a higher rate than that in the femur and tibia. Ten achondroplastic patients underwent 3 bilateral humerus, 3 bilateral femur and 4 bilateral tibia lengthenings. To reduce the confounding effect of bone size, we used bone mineral apparent density (BMAD) to compare the three groups; this is a volumetric bone mineral density measurement. BMAD in the distracted callus space was evaluated at 8 weeks after the start of distraction using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (mean ± SD; g/cm³): in the humerus (0.24 ± 0.08) it was significantly higher than in the tibia (0.10 ± 0.02), while there was no difference between the humerus and femur (0.35 ± 0.11). We conclude that the callus formation in the humerus during the distraction period of limb lengthening proceeded at a significantly faster rate than in the tibia, but there was no significant difference between the humerus and femur. Received: 4 March 1997