Upper Limb Congenital Anomalies in Nigeria
Abstract
Background: About 1–2% of neonates have congenital anomalies; of these, 10% affect the upper limbs. Congenital anomalies are structural or metabolic defects present at birth. Objective: To review cases seen over a four-year period in a tertiary specialist hospital in Lagos and share our experience.
Methodology: Case notes and theatre records of patients with congenital upper limb anomalies were retrieved and relevant data extracted. Data were analyzed with SPSS version 20.
Results: 46 patients with 53 diagnoses of upper extremity congenital anomalies: 28 were males and 18 females between 5 weeks and 14 years. 17 patients (37%) presented within the first 12 months of life. Average ages of mothers and fathers were 34.1 and 37 years respectively. 26% of mothers had febrile illnesses and 28.3% used herbal products during the index pregnancies. Swanson’s group 2 was the commonest (58.4). Syndactyly was the commonest descriptive individual diagnosis (49%). Treatments were individualized according to specific diagnosis.
Conclusions: Congenital anomalies of the upper extremities present as various diagnostic entities. Syndactyly was the most frequently encountered here.
Keywords: Upper limbs, Congenital, Anomalies
Authors submitting articles to The Annals of African Surgery do so on the understanding that if accepted, they will retain the copyright and allow the journal to publish and archive the article under the CC BY (Creative Commons Attribution License) 4.0 International. See details on the Creative commons website. All authors will be required to sign an Author Agreement form detailing the agreement with the journal prior to the article being published. Download the form here
© 2019 Annals of African Surgery. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
