CORR Insights^®: Paley’s Multiplier Method Does Not Accurately Predict Adult Height in Children with Bone Sarcoma

Excerpt

Gilg and colleagues discussed the reliability of Paley’s multiplier method in predicting adult height in patients with osteosarcoma and Ewing’s sarcoma, the influence of chemotherapy on growth velocity, and the effect of these diseases on the final adult height on patients. The retrospective study included patients diagnosed with either disease before they reached skeletal maturity. Researchers recorded followup data on the patients until they reached the age of 18, and used patient records or patient phone conversations to collect initial and final heights. Gilg and colleagues used the multiplier method to compute the predicted height of the study patients, and then compared the predicted height to the actual adult height. According to results of the study, the Paley multiplier method overestimated adult height in 76% of the patients, and the mean predicted height was 2.3 cm greater than the adult height. Therefore, they concluded, the Paley method is not an accurate predictor of adult height for patients who have bone sarcoma. …