Fingerprint patterns in carcinoma cervix patients: A comparative study

Etiology of cervical cancer consist of many factors like genetics, environmental factors etc. Fingertip patterns are formed under genetic control early in development but may be affected by environmental factors during first trimester of pregnancy. These patterns may represent the genetic makeup of a person and therefore his/her predisposition to certain diseases including carcinoma cervix. So this formed the basis of our study where we evaluated fingertip patterns as anatomical marker of carcinoma cervix. An analytical and comparative study done on 100 histo-pathologically confirmed cervical cancer patients and 100 age-matched normal healthy controls. Their fingerprints were analyzed to assess the association of cervical cancer with the fingertip patterns. Fingerprints were obtained by ‘Ink method’ as it was mentioned by Cummins and Midlo. Data on differences in patterns of cases and controls were tested for it’s statistical significance. Statistically significant lower number of arch patterns was observed in the fingerprints of both hands combinedly of the cancer patients as compared to controls. It was also seen that the percentage frequency of arch pattern when compared separately for right and left hands of cancer patients and controls, the frequency of arch pattern was statistically significantly lower in left hands of cases than controls. So it can be concluded that there are significant difference in fingertip patterns of cervical cancer patients from healthy people and Dermatoglyphics i.e., the study of ridge pattern on the finger, palm and soles may be utilized to identify the people at risk of carcinoma cervix.