CASE REPORT article
Front. Surg.
Sec. Pediatric Orthopedics
Extendable intramedullary nailing in a child with osteogenesis imperfecta o f bilateral femoral fractures:a case report
Provisionally accepted
- Kaifeng People's Hospital, Henan, China
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Background: Osteogenesis imperfecta, commonly referred to as brittle bone dis ease, is the most prevalent monogenic bone disorder, characterized by osteopor osis and heightened bone fragility. The majority of patients experience multiple fractures, with some cases being managed conservatively; however, those with numerous fractures frequently exhibit significant limb deformities and growth abnormalities necessitating surgical intervention. For adult patients, intramedullar y fixation of osteotomies is typically the preferred option; however, this approa ch is not entirely suitable for children due to their ongoing growth and develo pment, necessitating the replacement of intramedullary nails, thus requiring repe ated surgeries. Moreover, the increased bone fragility and propensity for fractur es in children with osteogenesis imperfecta lead to frequent postoperative comp lications such as re-fractures and internal fixation displacement. In response to these challenges, extendable intramedullary nails have been developed. Against t his backdrop, extendable intramedullary nails were developed. We used these n ails to treat a pediatric patient with multiple femoral fractures and severe defor mity, with favorable clinical outcomes during 2-year postoperative follow-up. .Case report:We present the case of a 12-year-old female patient diagnosed wi th osteogenesis imperfecta postnatally, who sustained multiple fractures over tim e, the most severe being bilateral femoral fractures, and was admitted to our f acility on two occasions for femoral shaft fractures. We employed osteotomy, o rthopedic techniques, and extendable intramedullary nailing for her treatment. P ostoperatively, she showed satisfactory recovery from bilateral femoral deformity, with successful fracture healing and near-normal lower limb lengths. Conclusi on:Extendable intramedullary nailing exhibits favorable clinical efficacy in the management of fracture deformities in pediatric patients with osteogenesis impe rfecta, offering novel insights and options for clinical diagnosis and treatment, t hereby demonstrating significant clinical utility.
Keywords: Osteogenesis Imperfecta, Femoral Fractures, Extendable intramedullary nailing, Orthopedic, Children
Received: 16 Sep 2024; Accepted: 26 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Zhang, Lu, Yang, Zhu and Hu. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Xuchao Lu
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