[Postaxial polydactyly of the foot: the six members of a family affected]

Abstract

Foot polydactyly constitutes one of the most frequent congenital malformations. Any of its forms (preaxial, postaxial and central) can be associated with other syndromes or congenital disease. We report the case of a family in which all its members (a mother and her five children) showed a postaxial bilateral polydactylism, except a patient in whom the presentation was unilateral. Another one was associating in addition a postaxial unilateral polydactylism of the hand. All the patients with exception of the mother needed surgical treatment. It is not common to find in the literature relating to the postaxial polydactyly of the foot, families with a number so raised of cases, being the incidence of 100% in this case. Due to the high prevalence of this disease, it is important to standardize an anatomical classification in order to elaborate suitable surgical protocols.