TY  - JOUR
A1  - ,  
T1  - Incidence of biphalangeal fifth toes in South Indian fetuses, children and adults
JO  - Eur. J. Anat.
SN  - 1136-4890
Y1  - 2005
VL  - 9
SP  - 99
EP  - 102
UR  - http://www.eurjanat.com/web/paper.php?id=05020099
KW  - adult
KW  - anatomical variation
KW  - article
KW  - bone radiography
KW  - child
KW  - female
KW  - fetus
KW  - human
KW  - human tissue
KW  - image analysis
KW  - incidence
KW  - India
KW  - major clinical study
KW  - male
KW  - population research
KW  - race difference
KW  - shoe
KW  - toe malformation
N2  - The human foot has a big toe and four lateral toes. The big toe has only two phalanges but each of the lateral toes has three. The presence of a two-phalangeal fifth toe was first described in 1492 by Leonardo da Vinci and later by a few others. It has not been reported in Indian populations. The present study estimated the incidence of this feature in a sample of South Indian fetuses, children and adults. Seven-month to full-term fetuses were collected at the Department of Anatomy. Stored X-ray images of the feet of children and adults were from the Department of Radiodiagnosis. Twelve pairs of fetal feet were used to count the number of ossified phalanges in the fifth toe by the Alizarine red technique. X-ray images (n = 112) of children, aged one to twelve years, and X-ray images (n = 263) of adults were grouped by gender and side. Twenty one feet (87.5%) of the fetuses had a biphalangeal fifth toe. Eleven X-ray images (9.8%) of children and thirty-one X-ray images (11.8%) of adults revealed a biphalangeal fifth toe. The percentage of incidence of this anatomical variant in the South Indian adult population was less than that reported for European (35.5%) and Japanese (80.4%) populations, probably because South Indians are not a consistently shoe-wearing community. The incidence of this feature was significantly (p<0.001) higher in females probably due to use of improperly designed foot-wear.
ER  -