[Dermatoglyphics of subjects with bronchial cancers]

Every high smokers are not able to make a lung carcinoma, on the over hand nonsmokers can be able to develop a bronchial carcinoma. It is possible that genetic factors can be involved in the occurrence of this carcinoma. Dermatoglyphic studies are one of the technics to appreciate this problem. The study was done upon 37 bronchial carcinoma and 51 lung diseases (European origin, only man, same age). There are some big differences upon: --The Cummins index: the right index as well as the left are higher in bronchial carcinoma than in controls, but it is significative only for the right one (p less than 0,05) (28,89 +/- 3,7 to 26,88 +/- 4,55). --The frequency of the ten fingerprints: the differences between lung carcinoma and controls are highly significative (p less than 0,01) for the whorls (22,7 to 34,9) and slightly significative (p less than 0,05) for the ulna loops (65,4 to 57,4), the other fingerprints (arch, radial loops) are quite the same in the two groups. The studies upon the other figures (TFRC and the position of the axial tri-radius) do not show any differences. It seems to us that the dermatoglyphic studies of men with bronchial carcinoma differ from controls (hospitalized for lung diseases). These population have the same dermatoglyphic structure than a control population from blood donors of Marseilles. The dermatoglyphic studies can be an aid to identify high risk people.