The Aussie Hands Foundation Inc

Terminology of Hand Anomalies

Medical Terms

Below is a list of Congenital Hand Anomalies Terminology

Adactyly ...........................................	Absence of all fingers and thumb
Amniotic Band Syndrome (ABS) .........	Constriction ring - Amniotic Bands
Aplasia ............................................	Absence of specific bones and parts
Arthrogryposis .................................	“Curved” stiff joints
Brachydactyly ..................................	Short finger or thumb
Camptodactyly .................................	Curvature in flexor (palmar-dorsal) plane of finger
Clinodactyly .....................................	Deviation in lateral (radial-ulnar) plane of finger or thumb
Constriction ring ...............................	Amniotic bands
Dysplasia .........................................	Abnormal development of bones and parts
Ectrodactyly .....................................	Partial or total absence of central fingers
Hypoplasia .......................................	Under development of bones and parts
Macrodactyly ....................................	Overgrown finger or thumb
Poland .............................................	Underdevelopment of the arm, hand, and fingers
Polydactyly ......................................	More than normal number of fingers or thumbs
Symbrachydactyly ............................	Under developed hand with central finger deficiencies
Symphalangia....................................	Stiff fingers or thumb from fusion of bones
Syndactyly .......................................	Webbed fingers or thumb
Synostosi .........................................	Bone fusion
Vacterl .............................................	A non-random association of birth defects

Statistics

Table 1:
Hand and/or finger anomalies reported to Victorian Birth Defects Register,
1983-2005

Anomaly	Number	% of all hand/finger anomalies	n/10,000 births
Complete absence of upper limb	20	0.9	0.1
Absence of forearm	36	1.7	0.2
Absence of hand and/or fingers	292	13.6	2.0
Arthrogryposis	127	5.9	0.9
Polydactyly - fingers/thumbs	746	34.7	5.1
Fused fingers	108	5.0	0.7
Webbed fingers	131	6.1	0.9
Syndactyly of fingers, not otherwise specified	102	4.8	0.7
Poland Syndrome	36	1.7	0.2
Other anomalies of fingers*	470	21.9	3.2
Other anomalies of hand#	79	3.7	0.5
Total	2,147	100.0	14.7

Total births (83-05)	1,456,903
Total birth defect conditions (83-05) (not cases)	131,431

* includes brachydactyly, camptodactyly, clinodactyly, ectrodactyly, macrodactyly, symbrachydactyly

#includes claw hand, fixed flexion deformities etc.

Please Note:
Data source: Victorian Birth Defects Register, Perinatal Data Collection Unit, Department of Human Services, 2007
Permission to dispay the data above marked "Table 1" has been granted by the Manager of the Perinatal Data Collection Unit.
This information may not be used, reproduced or copied unless express permission has been received from the granting authority.