Congenital shortening of the femur is caused by a malformation in the formation of this bone in the womb. Several involvements of different severity may be exhibited such as the absence of the hip joint, developmental retardation of the bones of the hip joint, development of a complete yet short femur, or no formation of the femur.
Although there is sometimes an unclear familial predisposition to the formation of the disease, the patients are usually the first case in the family. The presence of this abnormality can be detected by an ultrasound examination in the womb, and the family is informed about the postnatal period. In this abnormality, there may be deficiency in the bone structures also under the knee, weakness or anomaly in the anterior cruciate ligament in the knee, and limitation of movement in the knee or ankle.
In this disease, which can be understood in the first examination of the children, the treatment may consist of multiple surgeries performed at different ages. The estimated final length of the femur, the condition of the hip joint and the foot status are important criteria in determining the treatment option. The bone which is short may be lengthened, or a corrective bone surgery or joint arthrodesis may be required.
During and after the treatment, prosthesis should be used, which will eliminate the leg length discrepancy and enhance the function, if necessary. Surgical treatments related to this disease are successfully applied in our clinic.