Femoral hypoplasia in two newborns associated with maternal diabetes mellitus.

Femoral hypoplasia is a rare disorder, with an estimated incidence of 0.11-0.2/10,000 live births. Although the majority of cases are sporadic, a few familial cases have been described. Poor diabetic control, exposure to drugs, viral infections, radiation, focal ischemia and trauma between the 4th and 8th week of gestation have been implicated as possible etiological factors. Femoral hypoplasia with other congenital anomalies was described in children of diabetic mothers. The isolated form is uncommon. We present here two newborns with femoral hypoplasia due to maternal diabetes mellitus. One of them has isolated and unilateral left femoral hypoplasia diagnosed after birth; the other has bilateral femoral hypoplasia and bowing diagnosed by ultrasound at 24 weeks' gestation.