Endocrine significance of short metacarpals.

ABSTRACT Observations on 2594 outpatients indicate that shortness of the fourth metacarpals relative to the third and especially relative to the fifth (metacarpal sign) is of frequent occurrence in patients with gonadal dysgenesis having either female or male sex chromatin. Moreover, in males (Klinefelter's syndrome excluded), this metacarpal sign occurs much more frequently in the presence of some gonadal anomaly than when the gonads are normal. Among 105 males exhibiting the metacarpal sign and 136 others exhibiting only the borderline condition, all of those from whom buccal smears were taken were found to have male sex chromatin. In all 5 males with female sex chromatin, there was no metacarpal sign. On the basis of limited data, it appears that the metacarpal sign, when found in more than one generation of the same family, is without significance as far as gonadal development in any generation is concerned. However, when it is found in only one generation, it is frequently associated with gonadal abe...