In brief
What should readers understand about Lengthening Nails: A Review of Current Practice (2020)?
A comprehensive review of all major internal nail technologies for limb lengthening, from early mechanical nails to modern magnetic systems.
Limits: This summary explains evidence context and limitations; it is not medical advice.
- Evidence
- Peer-reviewed evidence
- Source set
- Peer-reviewed sources
- Updated
- References
- 4 listed
Editorial responsibility: Limb Lengthening Library editorial team. Independent medical review is not claimed unless a named reviewer is listed. How sources are reviewed.
What This Publication Is
Barakat and colleagues published a nonsystematic narrative review in 2020 and included four case examples from their institution. It describes the progression from external-frame and combined methods to mechanical, motorized, and magnetic lengthening nails, plus extended applications such as deformity correction and bone transport. [1]
What It Can Support
The paper is useful for terminology, historical mechanisms, and examples of how LON, LATN, and fully internal systems differ. Its case examples show technical feasibility in selected patients; they do not estimate population-level safety or prove that one device or method is best.
Do Not Combine Numbers From Unlike Studies
Accuracy, complication, frame-time, and healing-index figures in a narrative review can come from different populations, bones, devices, definitions, and eras. A PRECICE accuracy estimate and an ISKD complication estimate are not a head-to-head comparison. LON and LATN reduce frame exposure in selected studies but add different operations and infection pathways.
Why It Is Not a Current Device Guide
The publication predates the U.S. recall status of stainless-steel STRYDE, the 2023 PRECICE MAX clearance, the open recall covering specified PRECICE MAX catalog and lot combinations, and later FITBONE clearances. Current availability, loading, indications, and recalls must come from current regulator and manufacturer records for the exact device and country. [2][3][4]
Use this review as a 2020 map of concepts and selected cases. Do not use its title or historical tables as evidence that external frames are obsolete or that a named nail is currently available, safer, or appropriate for a particular patient.
Sources
Verification policy- Barakat AH, Sayani J, O'Dowd-Booth C, Guryel E. Lengthening nails for distraction osteogenesis: a review of current practice and presentation of extended indications. Strategies Trauma Limb Reconstr. 2020;15(3):161-167.Academic journalAccessed 2026-03-01
- U.S. FDA - Update: NuVasive Specialized Orthopedics Precice DevicesOfficial public sourceAccessed 2026-07-15
- U.S. FDA - Class 2 Device Recall: Precice Max (Z-0500-2025)Official public sourceAccessed 2026-07-15
The open recall record identifies affected catalog and lot combinations and was last updated July 14, 2026.
- U.S. FDA - 510(k) Premarket Notification K232169: FITBONE Transport and Lengthening SystemOfficial public sourceAccessed 2026-07-15
Informational only. Not medical advice.