Table 5.
Complications categorized into 8 main groups (soft tissue, joint, vascular, bone, neurological, infection, device-related, others) and 33 subgroups
| Severity grade and origin of complications |
|||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Group | I | II | IIIA | IIIB | Sum |
| Soft tissue | |||||
| Skin | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Muscles | 0 | ||||
| Tendons | 0 | ||||
| Pain | 5 | 5 | |||
| Others | 2 | 1 | 2 (CS) | 5 | |
| Sum of soft tissue | 13 | ||||
| Soft tissue complications in % of segments | 1 | ||||
| Joint | |||||
| Pain | 1 | 1 | |||
| Contracture | 19 | 24 | 5 | 5 | 53 |
| Subluxation | 6 | 6 | |||
| Dislocation | 1 | 1 | |||
| Others | 0 | ||||
| Sum of joint | 61 | ||||
| Joint complications % of segment: | 6 | ||||
| Vascular | |||||
| Vascular damage | 1 | 1 | |||
| Deep vein thrombosis | 4 | 4 | |||
| Hemorrhage/hematoma | 2 | 2 | |||
| Others | 2 | 1 (AV) | 3 | ||
| Sum of vascular | 10 | ||||
| Vascular complications in % of segments: | 1 | ||||
| Bone | |||||
| Premature consolidation | 15 | 4 | 19 | ||
| Delayed healing | 16 | 27 | 2 | 1 | 46 |
| Secondary malalignment | 1 | 2 | 3 | ||
| Fracture | 6 | 1 | 1 | 8 | |
| Others | 1 | 1 | 2 | ||
| Sum of bone | 78 | ||||
| Bone complications in % of segments: | 8 | ||||
| Neurology | |||||
| Paresthesia | 2 | 1 | 2 | 5 | |
| Paralysis | 0 | ||||
| Others | 3 | 3 | |||
| Sum of neurology | 8 | ||||
| Neurology complication in % of segments: | 0.8 | ||||
| Infection | |||||
| Superficial soft tissue | 2 | 1 | 3 | ||
| Deep soft tissue | 1 | 1 | |||
| Osteomyelitis | 3 | 1 | 4 | ||
| Others | 0 | ||||
| Sum of infection | 8 | ||||
| Infection complications in % of segments: | 0.8 | ||||
| Device-related | |||||
| Distraction mechanism | 16 | 20 | 9 | 45 | |
| Mechanical strength | 25 | 14 | 3 | 2 | 44 |
| Attachment failure | 8 | 24 | 1 | 33 | |
| Others | 0 | ||||
| Sum of device-related | 122 | ||||
| Device-related complications in % of segments: | 12 | ||||
| Others | |||||
| Patient | 6 | 6 | |||
| Surgical | 3 | 7 | 1 | 11 | |
| Others | 1 | 1 | |||
| Sum of others | 18 | ||||
| Others, complications in % of segments | 1.8 | ||||
CS: compartment syndrome;
AV: arteriovenous fistula of the posterior tibial artery decompensated during tibial lengthening and an embolization procedure had to be performed. 14 complications could not be categorized due to missing descriptions.