Could Kang Yee Cher grow up to be as tall as Chinese basketball player Yao Ming - a towering 2.26m?
One doctor thinks it is possible.
'If he has consistently been in the 97th percentile since he was a child, it is very likely that he will grow up to be very tall,' said Dr Low Kah Tzay, a consultant paediatrician at Mount Elizabeth Hospital.
Being in the 97th percentile means that Yee Cher is in the top 3 per cent in terms of height for those his age.
Dr Low added that if Yee Cher had not always been in the 97th percentile - say he was in the 80th percentile when he was younger - and has only just moved into the 97th percentile, he could have Marfan Syndrome.
This is a genetic disorder that causes the ligaments and connective tissues in the body to be a bit 'lax'. People with Marfan Syndrome are usually taller than their peers. It can cause headaches and vision problems.
Doctors interviewed say the average height of a 10-year-old Singaporean boy is 1.35m.
When Yao Ming was 10, he, too, was 1.65m tall. At 13, he was 1.98m, and at 21, reached his current 2.26m.
Dr Kevin Tan, a consultant endocrinologist at Mt Alvernia Hospital, said it could be a case of early puberty, or that the boys' parents could also be tall.
A boy undergoing early puberty might be not just physically but also more sexually and emotionally mature than his peers, he said. And while the height of a child's parents determines his height, family stability and good nutrition come into play too, Dr Tan added.
He said it is unlikely Yee Cher would reach Yao Ming's height unless he has a pituitary growth problem causing him to produce excessive growth hormones.
He added that gigantism and its counterpart acromegaly are due to a growth (tumour) in the pituitary gland in the brain which overproduces growth hormones. If this happens before the bones fuse by around age 18, then a 'giant' is produced. If it happens after the long bones fuse and growth stops, then it produces the medical condition acromegaly.
But, he said, gigantism is very rare, with only about 100 reported cases to date. Acromegaly is more common with about four cases per million people per year.
Endocrinologist Warren Lee also thinks that is it unlikely that Yee Cher suffers from gigantism. He said that the boy could just be experiencing early puberty.
'If that is the case, there is nothing wrong with that. It's a natural advantage and he broke no laws. For him, it could be just a temporary advantage. The other boys might catch up with him,' he said.
This article was first published in The Sunday Times on July 6, 2008.
