ARTICLE: 'Relationship between palmar skin creases and osseous anatomy'

**Martijn (admin)** Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:04 pm

Relationship between palmar skin creases and osseous anatomy - a radiological study identification

Chauhan, P. (1), Kalra, S. (2), Jain, SK. (1), Munjal, S. (1) and Anurag, A (1).

1 Department of Anatomy, Shri Guru Ram Rai Institute of Medical and Health Sciences Patel Nagar, Dehradun, Uttarakhand, 248001, India
2 Department of Anatomy, University College of Medical Sciences, and Associated GTB Hospital, Delhi, 110095, India

Abstract

Functional association of the Palmar creases overlying the various osseous structure of the hand have proved as an important anatomical landmark. This fact can be of use in various orthopaedic and surgical procedures on the hand. These lines upon the skin may not exactly mark the line of underlying joint, therefore it is important to know the relationship between the two. The study was performed on the right hands of 50 subjects.
Most consistent creases were marked using a 25 gauge copper wire on the palm and radiographs were taken in AP view. Various measurements were taken from the crease to the associated joint/osseous structure. Statistical analysis proved significant positive correlation in the distance between distal transverse crease(DTC) and metacarpophalangeal (MCP) joint and proximal digital crease (PDC) and MCP joints in the index finger and middle finger with p value of 0.03 and 0.008 respectively, whereas, highly significant negative correlation was found in the distance between proximal transverse crease (PTC)-MCP joint and proximal digital crease(PDC)-MCP joint of the index finger(p = 0.038). PTC was consistently proximal to MCP joint in the study group. It was observed that in majority of cases the associated joints do not lie under the flexion creases, therefore if any joint exposure is essential, then for better field of surgery incision can be placed parallel to the crease so that it exactly overlaps the joint if the position of joint with respect to the crease is known.

Keywords: flexion crease, palmar crease, hand reconstruction

FULL ARTICLE: http://jms.org.br/PDF/v28n3a10.pdf