New technology lengthens limbs without pain

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- College student David Pfeiffer lived with a painful problem for 12 years.

When David was seven, he broke his left leg. When it healed, it grew one-inch longer than his right leg.

"It was causing like back problems, and you know, walking funny," Pfeiffer said.

Patients like Pfeiffer used to have to wear a painful external device for months. Pins pierce the skin and muscle to literally stretch the leg.

"No longer do my patients have to be condemned to wear this bulky, medieval torture device outside their leg," said Dr. John E. Herzenberg, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Hospital.

With the PRECICE limb lengthening system, a titanium rod with a magnetic motor is internally implanted in the patient's leg bone. An external remote control activates the magnets inside and gradually pulls the bone apart.

"As these turn, it's causing the magnet inside to turn and it's slowly, slowly, slowly lengthening the leg," Herzenberg said.

Patients use the device eight minutes a day to lengthen the bone 1 millimeter. The pin is removed after a year.

"This is what we've been waiting for my whole professional career," Herzenberg said.

After 25 days of treatment, Pfeiffer's leg grew 1 inch. Now, he can stand tall without any pain holding him back.