Chromosome abnormalities in Dupuytren's disease.

Palmar fascia from six men with Dupuytren's contracture has been grown in tissue-culture and examined cytogenetically; and in three of these cases skin was also studied. Four of the six cases showed mosaicism, but only in cultures of the fascia; the mosaicism was therefore unlikely to be an artefact. Since the abnormalities were inconsistent and absent from skin-cultures they are very unlikely to indicate any mechanism of inheritance. Similar chromosome abnormalities have been reported from experimentally induced tumours.