In Poland syndrome, this technique appears to be a major advance that will probably revolutionize the treatment of severe cases. This is mainly due to its ability to achieve previously unachievable quality of reconstruction with minimal scarring. Epidemiology
Poland syndrome affects males three times as often as females and affects the right side of the body twice as often as the left. The incidence is estimated to range from one in 7,000 to one in 100,000 live births. History
It was named in 1962 by Patrick Clarkson, a New Zealand-born British plastic surgeon working at Guys Hospital and Queen Marys Hospital, London. He noticed that three of his patients had both a hand deformity and an underdeveloped breast on the same side. He discussed this with his colleague at Guys Hospital, Dr Philip Evans, who agreed that the syndrome was "not widely appreciated". Clarkson found a reference to a similar deformity published by Alfred Poland, an English surgeon, over a hundred years earlier in Guys Hospital reports, in 1841. Clarkson was able to find the hand specimen dissected by Poland, which was still held in the hospital pathology museum.Poland had dissected a convict known as George Elt, who was said to be unable to draw his hand across his chest. Poland noted the chest wall deformity, and this was illustrated in his article; the hand was also dissected and preserved for posterity in Guys Hospital museum where it remains today. It cannot be truly said that Poland described this syndrome because he only described one isolated case.
It was seldom noticeable throughout the shows run, Burghoff usually putting his hand in his pocket or concealing it under props such as the clipboards carried by his character Radar OReilly. English singer-songwriter Matt Goss has Poland syndrome, manifesting as a missing lower pectoral on his right side. References


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