Dermatoglyphics and Oral Cancer ? Are They Related?

Dermatoglyphics is the study of epidermal ridges on the palmar and plantar surfaces1. After their complete formation, they are unaffected by the environment. This property works as an ideal marker for individual identification as well as detection of defects due to intra uterine irregularities in the early weeks of pregnancy. Oral cancer is one of the 10 leading cancers in the world and is amongst the most frequent cancer in India. Genetically determined susceptibility is the most important etiology for oral cancer. This present study is conducted to analyse the dermatoglyphic patterns in oral cancer patient. The participants were divided into two groups- 100 normal and 100 cancer patient without any known etiology. A thin layer of black printing ink material was applied to finger and palm. Imprints of 5 finger tips were recorded in specified boxes and entire palm imprints were recorded in the middle of the A4 sheets. The difference in the distribution of thenar crease, distal crease and ATD angle is found to be highly significant in oral cancer patient as compared to normal individual loops were also found to be increased in oral cancer.