Humeral lengthening in hypoplasia of the upper limb.

Surgical treatment for the correction of upper limb discrepancies with primary involvement of the humerus is reported. The operative technique, the lengthening procedure with the G3-IOR distractor, and the successive external fixation are described. In the seven extremities treated, the mean lengthening was 5.0 cm, the mean percentage lengthening was 25.2%, and the mean residual discrepancy was 2.9 cm. The authors believe that humeral lengthening is advisable for 13- to 15-year-old patients with hypoplasia of the humerus when the discrepancy is greater than 3 cm.