The 2024 Paralympics are especially unique to orthopedic Dror Paley, MD. Dr. Paley, who runs the Paley Orthopedic & Spine Institute in West Palm Beach, Fla., has three patients who will compete in the games.
All three athletes have the same condition — congenital femoral deficiency, he told Becker's. They all had leg lengthening and reconstruction surgeries, which were alternatives to amputation.
"Every one of them was probably offered an amputation as the way to treat this, and then prosthetic fitting," Dr. Paley said. "Eventually they came to us and we reconstructed the leg instead."
Dr. Paley's patients are Arelle Middleton (track and field), Keegan Knott (swimming) and Jordan White (archery). He said he's worked with the patients since they were children.
"All three of these Olympians happen to have more severe cases than most," he said. "They've all undergone multiple surgeries by me, and they have one or two more left."
Dr. Paley said his treatment was an alternative to amputation which was more commonly recommended for children with CFD.
"When I first started everything we did was criticized," he said. "'You should just cut these legs off.' 'Put out a prosthesis.' I don't think anybody says that anymore. They say they recognize this as a viable alternative but they don't have the skill set to do it. But I think having patients at this level of function just supports people. We're not hurting these kids. These kids, in fact, are rising up to be all that they could be."
With the Paralympics set to begin Aug. 28 in Paris, Dr. Paley said he's excited to follow their progress.
"I did not make them Olympians," he said. "You can't make a normal kid an Olympian but you can help them be all that they can be, and that's the same whether they're able bodied or not able bodied. That's what we did, except in my case, I did it surgically, as opposed to a parent who might get up at 4 in the morning and take the kids swimming."
Thinking about the future of CFD treatment, Dr. Paley said he is optimistic.
"The devices used for lengthening are improving, and they've gone from just external fixation devices to full to fully implantable devices, and they're getting smaller and smaller. I think in 10 years, the big change will be miniaturization and more remotely controlled. The devices will be smaller, and we could put them in younger so the process won't be as difficult."