November the 8th, 2026 – The very first leg lengthening procedure carried out in Croatia has been performed at Zagreb’s Clinic for Traumatology.
A medical team from the Clinic for Traumatology in Zagreb has performed the first leg lengthening operation in Croatia using a new method that does not use an external fixator. Index reports that the procedure was carried out on a 28-year-old patient for whom a six-centimetre difference in leg length had been making movement difficult for years.
Kristina Sambolek (28) has had a shorter left leg since birth due to a hip deformity. She has spent her entire life in and out of hospitals, and numerous operations are behind her. Because of the difference in leg length she walks on her toes and wears shoes with soles of different thicknesses. “The first thing they did to me was literally tie my legs so they were hanging in the air and try that way to set the hips back into the socket,” Kristina described.
“The biggest problem was that on the left side I didn’t have a proper socket at all, nor a joint, so for years they tried to fix that with operations. I have the feeling that I spent more of my childhood in hospital than at home,” she recalled.
slovenia has been using this method for around a decade
Over time, she learned to endure the pain and accepted the limitations, but she never gave up hope of a better life. “I’ve been through operations and I know what awaits me, so I’ve come to terms with the fact that I have to go through this so that it will be easier for me. My wish is to be able to put on high heels and be like a real woman,” she said. The operation at the Traumatology Clinic is the result of international cooperation with colleagues from Slovenia. “This is one of the most favourable methods for lengthening long bones. It is much simpler for patients than external fixators,” said Prof. Dr. Sc. Matej Drobnič, specialist in orthopaedic surgery from Ljubljana. He added that in Slovenia this method has been used for about ten years and that five to six such procedures are performed annually without significant complications. The two-hour procedure in Zagreb is the first of its kind in Croatia.
“It’s a type of brand new technology where a nail is implanted into the bone. The leg then grows on its own, one millimetre a day. The patient will lengthen the leg herself with magnetic stimulation and we expect that in 50 days we will get the 50 millimetres we are planning,” explained Assist. Prof. Dr. Sc. Tomislav Čengić, head of the 3rd Department of Geriatric Traumatology and Hip Surgery at the Clinic for Traumatology.
The new method will enable patients with a difference in leg length to be treated in Croatia, without going abroad. “Three to five patients a year could certainly be found in Croatia for this type of operation. This procedure is significant for us, but also for the entire orthopaedic and traumatology profession in Croatia,” emphasised Assoc. Prof. Dr. Sc. Srećko Sabalić, head of the Clinic for Traumatology. Assist. Prof. Čengić emphasised that the success is the result of teamwork. “The entire clinic team took part in the procedure, from anaesthesiologists, scrub nurses, technicians to radiology engineers,” Čengić said. For the patient the operation means a step towards easier walking, and for Croatian orthopaedics the introduction of a modern treatment method.
The operation was performed by Assist. Prof. Tomislav Čengić, Prof. Matej Drobnič, Dr Danijel Jurković and Dr Fabijan Čukelj. Also in the team were anaesthesiologist Dr Ajša Muratović, scrub nurses Martina Stivičević, Tihana Krusha and Barbara Funtak, and radiology engineer Dubravko Kamenar.
