Arteriovenous Fistula for Treatment of Discrepancy in Leg Length

Abstract

Surgical creation of a femoral arteriovenous fistula was used for treatment of anisomelia in twenty-eight patients. Seventeen patients required epiphyseodesis of the long extremity in addition to the fistula. Their discrepancies in length averaged 4.6 centimeters at fistula creation, 5.9 centimeters at epiphyseodesis, 3.6 centimeters at fistula closure, and 2.2 centimeters at maturity. Eleven patients were treated solely with surgical creation of an arteriovenous fistula. Their discrepancies averaged 4.1 centimeters at fistula creation, 2.4 centimeters at fistula closure, and 2.5 centimeters at maturity. The effect of the fistula was unpredictable and the complication rate was high.