Analysis of metacarpophalangeal pattern profiles.

The analysis of measurements of phalangeal lengths with the metacarpophalangeal pattern profile plots (MCPPP), has been further extended. I suggest to correlate these measurements to the total length of the phalanges in order to obtain only one mean and standard deviation table for all ages from 3 years to adults. The technique described has proved very useful for comparing published pictures with actual x-ray images. The technique also yields an enhancement of small peculiarities in the plots of a given malformation. As an example the plots of the tricho-rhino-phalangeal syndromes type 1 and 2 (Langer-Giedion syndrome) are presented and compared with the literature.