[Camptodactyly: classification and therapeutic results. Apropos of a series of 50 cases]

Fifty patients with camptodactyly of one or several fingers were seen in the Strasbourg SOS Main unit between 1980 and 1988. Classification of these lesions was based on the mobile or fixed nature of the deformity in flexion of the interphalangeal joint. This classification is useful for the therapeutic management. Treatment by dynamic splint for a mean duration of 20 months gives good results in fixed or mobile camptodactylies of small children, provided that this treatment is commenced as soon possible. This splint treatment also obtains favorable results in patients reaching the end of the growth period, whether their camptodactyly is mobile or even, in some cases, fixed. In every case, treatment by dynamic splint constitutes a therapeutic test (safety of the apparatus, patient's cooperation) and only forms of camptodactyly resistant to conservative treatments benefit from Malek's type of surgical correction. It must be remembered that a certain number of cases of camptodactyly have a potential for severity with time, progressing towards irreducible forms which can only be corrected by surgical treatment. Camptodactyly in adults must be analysed meticulously and only major deformities causing functional discomfort or major aesthetic prejudice should be operated.