Congenital hand anomalies in Upper Egypt

BACKGROUND Congenital hand anomalies are numerous and markedly variant. Their significance is attributed to the frequent occurrence and their serious social, psychological and functional impacts on patient's life. PATIENTS AND METHODS This is a follow-up study of 64 patients with hand anomalies of variable severity. All patients were presented to Plastic Surgery Department of Sohag University Hospital in a period of 24 months. RESULTS This study revealed that failure of differentiation and duplication deformities were the most frequent, with polydactyly was the most common anomaly encountered. The mean age of presentation was 6 years and female to male ratio was 1.46:1. Hand anomalies were either isolated, associated with other anomalies or part of a syndrome. CONCLUSION Incidence of congenital hand anomalies in Upper Egypt is difficult to be estimated due to social and cultural concepts, lack of education, poor registration and deficient medical survey. Management of hand anomalies should be individualised, carefully planned and started as early as possible to achieve the best outcome.