A nine-year-old boy has become the first patient to have pioneering leg-lengthening surgery in the UK.
Alfie Phillips, from Northampton, has fibular hemimelia, a rare condition that affects fewer than one in 40,000 births in the UK each year.
It caused his right leg not to develop properly, leaving it about four centimetres shorter than his left. According to specialists, it would have grown to be six centimetres shorter by the time he was 16.
Speaking to the Press Association (PA), Alfie said his schoolmates used to say “I ran a bit different, and I couldn’t skip”, and that by the time he was five, “it started to get a bit annoying”.
“If they ever wanted a conversation, other than my friends, it was always going to be about my condition,” he added.
“When I was obviously a lot younger, I didn’t think it was any different because I grew up with it.”
The operation explained
Doctors were able to extend Alfie’s leg by installing a lengthening nail on the surface of his thigh bone.
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This was then slowly pulled apart by a special magnet, used three times a day for a month, with the body creating new bone tissue to fill the gap.
Procedures using lengthening nails – fitted inside the bone – were not previously available to younger children due to the risk of damage.
But before the operation at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, Alfie’s only option for treatment was to have an external frame fixed to his bone from the outside of his limb.
Treatment started in March last year. Almost a year on, Alfie said he’s feeling good and enjoys being taller than his friends.
“I can just tower over them now… I like doing basketball a lot,” he said.
‘That leg difference became a lot more significant’
Laura Ducker, Alfie’s mum, told PA her son was diagnosed with fibular hemimelia within six months being born.
His father first raised concerns when he noticed his son only had three toes on one foot, but Alfie met all his milestones as a baby as expected.
Ms Ducker, who is an NHS midwife, said while “it really didn’t affect him massively when he was little”, as he got older, “that leg difference became a lot more significant”.
There was a risk it could cause problems with Alfie’s hips and joints, she said, and so sought advice from Alder Hey’s consultant orthopaedic surgeon Nick Peterson after hearing about him on a Facebook support group.
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‘Unheard of’ recovery
Describing Alfie’s recovery, Mr Peterson told PA his team was left “amazed” by Alfie’s rapid recovery.
“After about seven days, his pain score went down to zero out of 10, which is pretty much unheard of,” he said.
“He didn’t require anything other than the occasional paracetamol after a few days, and that was it. That is extremely unusual.
“So his recovery was remarkably quick and really, really impressive.”
