Every child is an angel who descends into the world, but when some babies are born, adjacent fingers (toes) are together and grow together, which is called congenital syndactyly. In Yuqian Village, Zhangban Town, Quanzhou Taiwanese Investment Zone, 36-year-old Mr. Xie was born with the same congenital rare disease as his mother, with four fingers on his hands and four toes on his feet. After the birth of three lovely daughters one after another, the three generations of grandparents and five people have not been able to get rid of the fate of "conjunctive". Over the years, the family has been on the road to seek medical treatment, and Mr. Xie is desperate for his daughters to be healed and grow up healthy and strong.
Mr. Xie's family of three generations and five people suffer from congenital syndactyly.
4 syndactylyphi on the left hand.
3 parallel toes on the left foot.
Three generations of congenital syndactyly
Three young girls were "recruited" one after another
At 11 o'clock yesterday morning, under the leadership of Mr. Xie's father-in-law, the reporter and his party drove around the winding mountain road and came to Mr. Xie's home. Walking into the living room, Mr. Xie's second and third daughters were sitting on the floor playing, while his wife and father were busy taking care of the children.
Approaching 12 o'clock, Mr. Xie, who had gone out to work, came back with his eldest daughter from school. Mr. Xie, who had just finished his work, was wearing a work uniform with various colors of paint on it, and his hands had not yet had time to be cleaned.
According to Mr. Xie, he was born with syndactyly on both hands and feet, and had surgery to correct syndactyly when he was 8 years old. At that time, the medical conditions were not so good, and although the fingers were successfully "divided" after surgery, the fingers could not be stretched freely, and they were in a state of contracture, and their ability to grasp, grasp, and pinch the fingers was limited, and they could only engage in simple work as adults.
Although Mr. Tse underwent finger splitting surgery, his finger could not be fully opened.
Me, my mom and my three daughters all have this disease. According to Mr. Xie, the eldest daughter, who was born in 2015, has 2 syndactyly in both hands and 3 syndactyly;The second daughter, who was born in 2020, has 3 syndactyly in both hands and 2 syndactyly on both feetThe third daughter, who was born in 2021, has 4 syndactyly on her left hand, 3 syndactyly on her right hand, and 3 syndactyly on both feet. Mr. Xie's mother, who was standing on the side, stretched out her hands, and the reporter saw that she had four parallel fingers on each hand.
The eldest daughter writes normally after surgery
I hope that the three babies can grow up healthily
The family knew that this disease would bring psychological shadows to the child, and Mr. Xie's eldest daughter Xiaoya (pseudonym) had surgery when she was 4 years old to complete the "finger splitting", but the appearance was not normal enough, and the girl was always slightly shy when she looked at her hands.
Xiaoya told reporters softly that it was inconvenient for her to grasp things when she was a child, but she was afraid of surgery at that time. After the surgery, she was able to move her hands normally and she felt much happier. When the reporter saw Xiaoya writing calligraphy homework, she drew very neatly. "My child studies Xi very hard, and he often takes the top few exams in his class!The grandfather on the side said.
At the beginning of this year, Mr. Xie's second daughter, Xiaoli (pseudonym), also embarked on the road to seek medical treatment. After surgery, Xiaoli's middle and ring fingers were separated. "However, it is difficult to straighten the ring finger, and repair surgery is required in the later stage. Mr. Xie said.
Corrective surgery can only separate two fingers at a time, and like children, it takes several surgeries to get better. Mr. Xie is a welder, although he can barely work after surgery, but because of his crooked fingers and slow work, he often can't get work, and his income is unstable, which is not enough to bear the daily expenses of his three daughters. On a daily basis, in addition to helping take care of his granddaughters, his grandfather also farmed and raised cattle, and his grandmother worked odd jobs everywhere to subsidize the family. "I hope to have surgery on my granddaughters sooner, they are all healthy and healthy, and our hard work is worth it. Grandma said.
It is rare for three generations of grandparents to suffer from the same disease
The cost of the three-baby operation is more than 200,000 yuan
Three children are in rare condition and require multiple surgical interventions**. Lin Zexu, chief physician of the Department of Plastic Surgery of Quanzhou First Hospital Affiliated to Fujian Medical University, introduced that polydactyly (toe) syndactyly (toe) is a common congenital deformity of the hands and feet, which is manifested as the fusion of one or more fingers and toes in whole or part of the regeneration of soft tissues or bones8～1.4。This disease is a hereditary disease, and most of the inheritance methods are autosomal dominant inheritance, and some are autosomal recessive inheritance.
Why do newborns have syndactyly?Lin Zexu said that it is currently unknown. In the initial stages of new life, the human fetus is similar in morphology to that of animals, and the hands of the first fetus are joined together. In the 5th 6th week of life, the interaction between certain structures of the embryo causes the soft tissue cells between the fingers to begin to gradually and programmatically die from the tip of the finger to the base, and when the finger webs are lowered to the appropriate position, the fingers are separated. If this process is disturbed, it will lead to syndactyly.
The reporter learned that in August this year, the First Hospital of Quanzhou City signed a medical cooperation relationship with the Ninth People's Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine. Recently, Wang Bin, MD, director of the Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery of the Ninth People's Hospital affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, will be invited to Quanquan for consultation. At that time, the specialist will further develop a surgical plan based on the child's condition. "Among the three children, the third child has a complex condition and needs to do multiple orthodontic surgeries, and the operation cost may be more than 100,000 yuan, the eldest and the second child have had orthodontic surgery before, and then the operation requires tens of thousands of yuan, and the operation cost of the three children needs more than 200,000 yuan. ”
Refers to flexion deformity if not corrected
Psychological impact is recommended for early intervention
Lin Zexu said that most of them require surgical intervention. Because the length of each finger is different, the growth of long fingers will be restrained by the short fingers that are joined together, and if not corrected early, long fingers will have scoliosis or flexion deformity. If the thumb and index finger are combined, the hand will lose its basic functions such as grasping, grasping, and pinching.
Syndactyly correction surgery can be more difficult than just separating the fingers. Lin Zexu pointed out that infants and toddlers can be treated as soon as possible according to their conditions. The separation of syndactyly, which is not only connected to the blood, but also the blood vessels that supply blood circulation to the fingers, the nerves, joints, phalanges, nails, etc., which innervate the senses, make the operation difficult. Because sometimes two fingers share a blood vessel, only one of the fingers can be left to one of the fingers when separated, and the other finger relies on the blood vessel on the other side to provide blood vascularization, so the blood vascularization on the other side of the finger must be preserved, and the operation cannot be performed at the same time to avoid necrosis of the finger function due to insufficient blood supply.
It also pointed out that children are prone to psychological problems such as low self-esteem, and it is recommended to intervene as soon as possible for hand and foot deformities. Lin Zexu said that after the operation, the child should also receive anti-scar contracture for a long time**, use a brace to consolidate the surgical effect after the suture is removed, and adhere to the functional exercise according to the doctor's instructions to avoid the condition ** and finger curling.
According to statistics, the probability of polydactyly in the offspring of dominantly inherited patients who marry a normal person is 50%. Patients with recessive inheritance are mated to carriers of the same type of disease-causing genes, and their offspring have a 50% chance of polydactyly. Genetic mutation testing based on known related genes can lead to the risk of polydactyly in offspring, which can be detected by ultrasound examination after 4 months of pregnancy. (*Southeast Morning Post reporter Xu Yimei, Guo Fangrong, Wei Xiaofang, Wu Jiaxiao, Xi student, Zhang Ye, Wen Tu).