J. Slee et S. Goldblatt, FURTHER EVIDENCE FOR PREAXIAL HALLUCAL POLYDACTYLY AS A MARKER OF DIABETIC EMBRYOPATTHY, Journal of Medical Genetics, 34(3), 1997, pp. 261-263
Maternal diabetes has an established aetiological link with developmen
tal abnormalities, and the prevalence of major congenital malformation
s in the offspring of affected women is approximately 4-8%, compared t
o the general population risk of about 3%. Hallucal polydactyly, parti
cularly with an unusual proximal placement of the extra digit, has bee
n reported as a distinctive anomaly in diabetic embryopathy. We report
on a child of a diabetic mother with this unusual form of hallucal po
lydactyly, together with other skeletal anomalies, confirming that thi
s malformation is a useful clinical marker for the diagnosis of diabet
ic embryopathy.