Understanding limb lengthening devices

Provider websites often use device names, method names and package names interchangeably — 'the PRECICE method', for example. LimbAtlas separates three levels so that profiles can be compared. A device is never treated as a technique: the same frame can serve several techniques, and one technique can use many devices.

Intramedullary lengthening nails are adjusted from outside the body in different ways. Globus Medical describes PRECICE as lengthened through magnets in the device and an External Remote Controller. Orthofix describes FITBONE as a motorized system with an implanted receiver under the skin and an external control set. A 2021 systematic review likewise describes FITBONE as motorized and PRECICE as magnetically driven.

Some nails are described only by the provider that uses them. The Becker Betz Institute describes BETZBONE, which it developed, as a purely mechanical nail; LimbAtlas found no independent manufacturer documentation for it and says so on the device page.

The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital's patient guide names two main types of external fixator: monolateral and circular. Smith+Nephew describes the Taylor Spatial Frame as a circular fixator that allows adjustments and alignment correction after surgery, and the International Center for Limb Lengthening describes it as two rings connected by six struts, with a computer program generating the adjustment schedule. Orthofix describes the LRS as a series of modular monolateral fixators.

A frame type is not a technique: a circular or monolateral frame can be used for external fixation alone or as the frame in a combined technique such as LON.

Provider pages often name a model or generation, such as PRECICE 2 or PRECICE MAX, and some still name companies previously associated with a system. LimbAtlas maps these to one device and keeps the provider's own wording on its profile, so you can see exactly what the provider says.

Device pages describe how a system works only in the words of a cited source. Manufacturer claims about performance, and regulatory statements, are not reproduced. Where LimbAtlas could not confirm whether a device is still manufactured or marketed, the device page says so rather than guessing.

Each link between a provider and a device records the source and the date it was reviewed, and a status. Only current links are shown as what a provider offers, counted on device pages or used in filters.

A current device link means the provider names the device publicly at the date shown. It is not a statement about the device's quality, its regulatory status in any country, its availability on a particular date or its suitability for you. Which device is proposed, and why, is a question for the treating team.