A 17-Year Follow-Up of Replantation of a Completely Amputated Leg in a Child: Case Report

ABSTRACT

With special reference to skeletal growth, a 17-year follow-up study of a lower-leg replantation in a four-year-old boy is reported. The patient maintained good cosmesis and function; however, foot size on the affected side was 1.5 cm smaller than the contralateral side, and leg length was 1.2 cm shorter than on the normal side. A Cybex II study disclosed that the patient had almost half-standard strength of the evertors at 30 deg/sec and of the plantar flexors at 20 and 120 deg/sec on the involved side. According to these findings on late follow-up of a replanted foot in a child, replantation in a growing child apparently has adverse influences on skeletal growth and muscle strength around the ankle joint, even when the original procedure has been carried out under almost ideal conditions.