Polydactyly is a birth defect in which the baby is born with an extra finger or fingers. Additional fingers can be present on both the hands and the legs, symmetrically, that is, on both sides, or on one side only. Parents usually fear for the he alth of their newborn baby. Fortunately, in most cases, a surgical procedure is enough to eliminate the effects of this defect.
Polydactylycan be found even in the prenatal life of the baby,additional fingers(sometimes these are just buds of a finger or fingers) are visible during ultrasound examination. After delivery, the disease is confirmed and further diagnosis is sometimes necessary. The point is to exclude the possibility that this anomaly does not coexist with other abnormalities, e.g. Bardet-Biedl syndrome, in which polydactyly, in addition to the kidney defect, ataxia, and sometimes also the heart defect, is one of the most characteristic symptoms. Most often, however, multi-toedness occurs spontaneously and is not associated with any more serious medical conditions.
Doctors are not always able to determine the cause of polydactyly. Sometimes it is hereditary, because there have been cases of multi-fingeredness in the family, sometimes it is associated with a chromosomal aberration (i.e. errors that arise at the stage of cell division), mutation of individual genes, it has an environmental or other cause, e.g. harmful influence of the environment, but also taking medications or other substances that are not indifferent to the development of the fetus.
Types of polydactyly
Multi-fingeredness can take many forms. It affects the hands and feet, and can affect one hand or foot, or both. Doctors distinguished two basic types of polydactyly: A and B. In type A polydactyly, additional fingers practically do not differ from the normal ones, because they have bones, joints and tendons. In type B polydactyly, no bone skeleton has developed, and the extra finger or fingers are made only of skin. It is easier to treat, usually this type of finger is surgically removed even during infancy.
Doctors have distinguished one more division of polydactyly, due to the location of the extra finger (fingersor buds). In the hands it can be on the thumb side, on the legs - on the big toe, or on the other side, i.e. closer to the little finger or toe. Regardless of the location, however, it is necessary to perform tests, first of all X-ray examinations, which will show what type of polydactyly we are dealing with.
Polydactyly: treatment
If it is found that the extra finger (the fingers or only their buds) is devoid of bones and joints, surgery is fairly easy to carry out. The situation becomes more complicated in the case of multi-finger structure, in which there are structures of the skeletal system and joints, because then the doctor must also remove ligaments or tendons, without affecting the he althy and normally constructed part of the hand or foot. Sometimes this type of procedure is waiting until the child is four or five years old, when the bone structures are better shaped and visible. The idea is to perform the operation at the optimal time, early enough so that the extra finger or fingers do not deform the limbs.
Worth knowingPolydactyly: unusual cases
Polydactyly is a fairly common birth defect, according to recent studies it occurs once in every 500-700 births. It usually affects one or two extra fingers, as in the case of Antonio Alfonseca, the American baseball player who has a total of 24 fingers (one extra for both hands and feet). He inherited polydactyly from his grandfather and, like with him, the extra fingers were not surgically removed. They do not interfere with his work or normal life. A much more complicated situation is when there are too many extra fingers. Last year, a boy was born in China with a total of 15 fingers and 16 toes. In this case, an additional complication was the fact that the child did not have a single thumb and a reconstruction was needed. In such a situation, doctors usually do not delay the operation in order not to lead to further deformation of the limbs.