[The dermatoglyphic indices in human macrodactyly]

The comparative dermatoglyphic analysis of palms and fingers of seven children with different forms of macrodactyly showed that they are fairly similar to those of normal children. The differences concern certain flattening of papillary ridges and reduced parameters of the total ridge count in the patients. Only in two cases of macrodactyly an increase in the relative length of fingers was accompanied by an increase in number of epidermal ridges and in the distance between fingers. If macrodactyly is based on somatic mutations or recombinations, then, depending on the time when the resulting mutant cell clones appear (before or after the epidermal ridges are laid down), the increased size of finger rudiments will or will not affect the value of ridge count.