MONTREAL, CANADA, 18 July 2026
Prof. Dr. Halil İbrahim Balcı took part in the 35th Annual Scientific Meeting of the Limb Lengthening and Reconstruction Society, ASAMI North America, held on 17 and 18 July 2026 at the Sofitel Montreal Golden Mile. He attended the meeting as an LLRS member and presenter, joining surgeons from several countries for two days of discussion on limb lengthening and complex extremity reconstruction.
LLRS brings together orthopaedic surgeons, physicians and allied health professionals working in limb reconstruction. Its annual meeting provides a forum for research, surgical education and discussion across limb lengthening, deformity correction and complex fracture treatment.
Prof. Balcı presented during the first limb reconstruction session on 17 July. His presentation, “Is Limb Lengthening Safe in Ollier Disease? A Multicenter Retrospective Study” examined the safety of lengthening surgery in patients with Ollier disease through a multicentre Turkish series.
The research included nine authors from seven centres in Istanbul and Adana. Prof. Balcı worked with Mert Ege, Barış Özkül, Berkay Doğan, Akif Miroğlu, Mustafa Çeliktaş, Gökçer Uzer, Levent Eralp and Mehmet Kocaoğlu.
Ollier disease causes multiple enchondromas within the skeleton and may lead to progressive limb length discrepancy, angular deformity and altered bone structure. Treatment can require more than one operation during growth. The location of the lesions and the shape of the affected bones can also make lengthening and deformity correction more difficult to plan.
Prof. Balcı’s presentation addressed a central clinical question: whether limb lengthening can be performed safely in this patient group. The multicentre design allowed the researchers to examine experience from several specialist units rather than relying on the results of a single centre.
The Istanbul University team contributed two further presentations to the Montreal programme. Together, the three studies covered different areas of modern limb reconstruction.
The second presentation, “Effect of Tibiofibular Screw Angle on Distal Fibular Migration in Tibial Distraction Osteogenesis: A Finite Element Analysis,” examined how screw orientation may influence fibular movement during tibial lengthening. The study was authored by Oğuzhan Günbatar, İsmail Tarık Atasoy, Mert Ege, Dağhan Koyuncu, Aleyna Yeşilyurt and Prof. Balcı.
The third presentation, “Artificial Intelligence Assisted Lower Extremity Deformity Analysis on Long Leg Radiographs: Validation Across Experience Levels,” assessed the use of artificial intelligence in lower limb alignment and deformity analysis. The research examined how the technology performed when used by clinicians with different levels of experience. The authors were Oğuzhan Günbatar, İsmail Tarık Atasoy, Cengiz Şen, Alper Şükrü Kendirci, Nurol Efe Alptekin and Prof. Balcı.
These presentations reflected three distinct parts of limb reconstruction practice: clinical decision making in a rare skeletal disorder, biomechanical planning during tibial lengthening and the use of digital tools in radiographic deformity analysis.
Prof. Balcı also joined the meeting’s discussion sessions, where surgeons compared approaches to limb lengthening and reconstruction in complex cases.
“We discussed limb lengthening surgery in patients with Ollier disease,” Prof. Balcı said after the meeting. “It was a great pleasure to exchange views with surgeons from around the world who work in this field.”
The three presentations brought current research from Türkiye to the LLRS North America programme and contributed to wider discussion on the planning, safety and assessment of limb lengthening procedures.
