Dermatoglyphics in the Holt-Oram Syndrome

In 1960, Holt and Oram¹ described a syndrome consisting of atrial septic defects, bizarre cardiac arrhythmias, and abnormalities of the upper extremity, particularly the thumb, in numerous members of a family covering at least four generations. One year later, McKusick² mentioned a mother and daughter with this syndrome and suggested the name atriodigital dysplasia. In 1963, Zetterqvist³ reported a third family, mother and son in whom atrial septal defects, bizarre arrhythmias, and the characteristic thumb anomalies were seen. In the same year, Kuhn et al⁴ described a fourth family with this syndrome. Three additional pedigrees were reported by Pruzanski,⁵ Lewis et al,⁶ and Emerit et al⁷ in 1964. The following year, Holmes⁸ described two pedigrees and Emerit et al⁹ reported five additional cases, four of whom had cardiac anomalies other than interatrial septal defects and no cardiac arrhythmias. In 1966, a very extensive pedigree of the Holt-Oram syndrome with detailed