A comparison of patients with different types of syndactyly

We performed a retrospective review of finger syndactyly releases at Shrine rs Hospital for Children, Houston Unit, between January 1983 and January 19 93. This study was performed in an attempt to compare the long-term postope rative function in patients after release of syndactyly resulting from Pola nd's syndrome with that in patients with idiopathic forms of syndactyly. On ly patients with one involved hand were included in this study. The contral ateral hand was used as a control. Twenty-seven patients with only one hand involved underwent syndactyly release during this period. Of these, 13 pat ients who underwent a total of 30 syndactyly releases were available for ev aluation. Far each patient, the type of syndactyly was determined. Each pat ient was subjected to a detailed physical examination and participated in o ccupational-therapy modalities. We noted statistically significant differen ces in function between operated-on and control hands in the Poland's group , whereas operated-on hands affected with idiopathic forms of syndactyly di d not demonstrate significantly different function compared with contralate ral controls. These data suggest that functional deficits in hands affected by Poland's syndrome are attributable to more than the syndactyly alone. H ands affected by idiopathic forms of syndactyly are likely to have little p ostoperative functional deficit.