Prenatal Bowing

Uncomplicated prenatal bowing of the long bones with dimpling has been described in sibs (Conway, 1958; Mahloudji et al., 1974). Prenatal bowing also occurs with osteogenesis imperfecta, hypophosphatasia, and camptomelic dysplasia. Hall and Spranger (1980) gave a review of congenital bowing of the long bones and identified 3 groups of cases among the 'bewildering variety of bone changes and associated clinical abnormalities which only rarely seem to fall into a recognizable pattern.' Kapur and Van Vloten (1986) observed congenital bowing in a child whose mother had bowing in infancy. Her adult height was 159.5 cm and x-rays showed minimal bowing of the femur. The child's bowing of the femurs was self-correcting over a period of 22 months.