Pre axial polydactyly: Our experience at the Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital, Nakuru, Kenya

Abstract

Background: Preaxial polydactyly is either complete or partial duplication of the thumb. It is most common in white and oriental populations, occurring in 1:3000 births. It is considered to be uncommon in Africans with post axial polydactyly being the most common type of polydactyly.

Methods: This was a prospective study over a 2 year period from January 2011 to December 2012. The study setting was the Reconstructive Surgery outpatient clinic at The Rift Valley Provincial General Hospital, Nakuru. The patients who presented to the clinic with preaxial polydactyly were recruited into the study. The demographics of these patients were obtained. The type of deformity, surgical procedure performed and outcome were documented.

Results: Most of the patients presented at the age of 6 months and above. The commonest type of presentation was Wassel Type IV. One of the patients had bilateral preaxial polydactyly with multiple malformations. In all the patients operated on, excision of the radial digit with reconstruction of the radial collateral ligament was performed. Two of the patients required extensor tendon transfer. All had a good post operative outcome.

Conclusion: Preaxial polydactyly is not common. In surgery for preaxial polydactyly careful consideration of anatomy, functional outcome and cosmetic appeal is required.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source (including a link to the formal publication), provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made.