A modified innominate osteotomy was employed to treat postural imbalance
by a hemipelvic lengthening in twenty patients, five to twenty years old.
Diagnoses associated with the postural imbalance included acetabular
dysplasia with ipsilateral femoral shortening, pure limb-length inequality,
primary intrapelvic asymmetry, and decompensated scoliosis. The
functionally low hemipelvis was lengthened as much as three centimeters by
distraction at the osteotomy and insertion of a quadrangular bone graft.
The option of a variable amount of acetabular redirection was especially
useful in patients with ipsilateral acetabular dysplasia. Review of the
patients after two to six years revealed that an average lengthening of 2.3
centimeters had been achieved. Fourteen patients had a balanced stance
without a lift postoperatively, and the size of the lift required in the
other six patients was greatly reduced.