Small femurs

[Cupcakehugs88]

Hi everyone i have been going out of my mind since ive been told by doctor at my23 scan my baby has short femurs small chest but everything else was perfect i just want abit of advise as im scared my baby might have abnomaltys please can some one esplain what that mean
LF was 30.9
RF was 26.8
Thanks everyone

Are you having any additional scans or consultant appointments?

There is a condition called PFFD (not life threatening) that this could be. There is a great charity called steps that has lots of information about lower limb deficincies if that is what it is.

I have no hands on experiemce of it but am aware of the condition and know it's not that common and hospitals sometimes dont know about.it.

The femur is one of the measurements they take when they scan, along with abdominal and head circumference. If this was a one off scan, and they just mentioned it in passing then they clearly aren't worried. If they were concerned they'd be scanning you every couple of weeks and plotting the measurements on a graph. Even then, there wouldn't necessarily be a concern because as others have said, it's not an exact science. And also they're looking for patterns. If your baby continues to grow at a satisfactory rate then they probably won't do anything. If they get concerned along the way, then they'll discuss with you the best time to deliver the baby. But from what you've said, chances are it will all be fine anyway. Babies can be really hard to measure accurately in utero!

Not wanting to frighten anyone but depending on how many weeks the baby is the difference in lengths of the femurs does seem to indicate something going on although as i have said nothing life threatening or even majorly concerning but could mean child would need a shoe raise or something as they get older.

I didn't want to go into too much detail on this due to my experience but there is a difference there and i think it would be that that would be a concern rather than them being smaller than normal.

Having said that, if the op hasn't had any referrals or anything i would say at this stage they are not concerned.

My son was diagnosed with PFFD whilst in utero mainly due to the fact one femur was smaller than the other. He had other things wrong with him too, all part of the same condition so had it to the extreme.

He would have had multiple surgeries including an amputation had he made it. Sadly he was stillborn (not thought to be linked to his condition)

obviously i left all of this out as it is frightening and that is not what i was trying to do just point the op on the direction of a site i found very useful when going through my sons initial diagnosis.

op i am sorry if this reaches you and causes upset. This condition IF it were that is extremely manageable and ot seemed my son had it in the worst possible form.

Hope that helps autumn.

having read it back it makes perfect sense. The issue would be the difference in the femurs rather than them being smaller than normal.

Having said that, after posting last night and reading through the information about pffd on the steps website it does seem to be about short femurs as well.

All i am trying to do is provide some help and insight to the op incase this does turn into something more along the line which from my experience it seems quite possible. I also know that as the condition is quite rare the hospital wouldn't necessarily know about it so it is worth looking into and raising with the hospital.

My son was orginally diagnosed with something else but on post mortem his condition was confirmed as pffd which i already suspected from my own research.

Apologies if i come across as harsh but i find it better to face up to things and have knowledge on them and i just wanted to give the op that opportunity without revealing the outcome my son had.

Pregnancy is a difficult time especially when something is raised out of the norm, having said that somethings aren't worth worrying about either so i completely see your point of view as well and appreciate it may be nothing and hopefully that is the case.

I had tried to avoid that and just point out the PFFD concern. As the op states one femur is 26.8 and the other 30.9 when they should be equal lengths.

Autumn the post from gingerbreadman at 08:25 was perfectly clear; I can't understand why you said it made no sense .

It's ok i have reported my posts to mn hq. as i have tried to state earlier on i was not trying to cause upset just be informative about a condition that is rare and wasnt clearly diagnosed at my 20 weeks and subsequent scans at a big university teaching hospital. I guess i was concerned this baby may have similar but it has been overlooked.

I couldnt give advice on when baby is here as my son didnt make it. I have tried to be explicit that stillbirth is not related to pffd and my son had it in an extreme form - also had scoliosis and clubfeet which confirmed this.

Hopefully my comments will be removed and no damage will be done although i would have been greatful of the help and being directed to steps which is a great, informative charity.