Schaumann B A, Opitz J M
Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Portland, OR.
Birth Defects Orig Artic Ser. 1991;27(2):193-228.
As demonstrated above, considerable progress has been made in the understanding of the associations between dermatoglyphics and various medical disorders, as a result of which dermatoglyphic analysis has been established as a useful diagnostic and research tool in medicine, providing important insights into the inheritance and embryologic development of many studied clinical disorders. Many unanswered questions and misconceptions still remain, though. Further well-designed investigations, avoiding the pitfalls of many earlier studies, will be needed to reevaluate some of the existing claims and to determine the real value of dermatoglyphics in medicine. The benefits of a dermatoglyphic examination in individual patients in clinical genetic practice are clear; a more widespread application of this tool by clinical geneticists and pediatricians should be encouraged. Embryologic and experimental dermatoglyphic studies clearly hold a considerable potential for a better understanding of the factors influencing the development of the epidermal ridge patterns. Utilized together with newly developed methods and insights gained in recent studies of other aspects of dermatoglyphics, they should significantly advance the studies of the relationship between dermatoglyphic variation and medical disorders.
如上所示，在理解皮纹学与各种医学病症之间的关联方面已经取得了相当大的进展，因此皮纹分析已成为医学中一种有用的诊断和研究工具，为许多所研究临床病症的遗传和胚胎发育提供了重要见解。然而，许多问题仍未得到解答，误解也依然存在。需要进一步精心设计的调查，避免许多早期研究的陷阱，以重新评估一些现有观点，并确定皮纹学在医学中的真正价值。在临床遗传学实践中，对个体患者进行皮纹检查的益处是显而易见的；临床遗传学家和儿科医生应更广泛地应用这一工具。胚胎学和实验性皮纹学研究显然具有相当大的潜力，有助于更好地理解影响表皮嵴纹模式发育的因素。与皮纹学其他方面最新研究中获得的新方法和见解一起使用，它们应能显著推进皮纹变异与医学病症之间关系的研究。
