A defect in which the legs or hands are joined to the body by short stumps. The condition occurred in many children as a result of women taking the drug thalidomide during pregnancy.
A congenital condition in which the upper parts of the limbs are missing or poorly developed, leaving the hands or feet directly attached to the body.
A congenital condition in which the legs develop as usual, but the arms are absent or underdeveloped.
A birth defect in which a person has nearly non-existent limbs, with hands or feet attached almost directly to the body; also called seal limbs. Phocomelia is associated with some disorders such as de Lange syndrome and with certain drugs, such as thalidomide, but occasionally occurs with no known triggering event.
Developmental abnormality marked by the absence of the upper portion of the arm or leg so that the hands and/or feet are attached to the trunk of the body by short stumps; it is a rare anomaly, occurring as an effect of thalidomide taken during pregnancy; also called seal limbs.
Congenital malformation where hands and/or feet are directly attached to the trunk; sometimes due to prenatal exposure to thalidomide.
A pattern of congenital limb deformities producing severely shortened or missing arms and legs, resulting in the hands and feet forming close to the body’s torso. Phocomelia can also cause an absence of the thumb and adjoining bone in the lower arm and similar abnormalities in the legs. Phocomelia is derived from the Greek words for “seal limbs.” Phocomelia sometimes is related to other diseases or factors. In the past, the pattern was caused by the drug thalidomide, prescribed to treat a pregnant woman’s morning sickness during the late 1950s and early 1960s. Thalidomide is currently unavailable for general use in the United States. A federal regulatory program called the System for Thalidomide Education and Prescribing Safety (STEPS) limits the prescription, dispensing, and use of the medication.
Congenital absence of the upper arm and/or upper leg, the hands or feet or both being attached to the trunk by a short stump. The condition is extremely rare except as a side-effect of the drug thalidomide taken during early pregnancy.
This is a great reduction in the size of the proximal parts of the limbs. In extreme cases the hands and feet may spring directly from the trunk. A rare condition, it occurred most commonly in children whose mothers took thalidomide in early pregnancy.
A congenital malformation in which the proximal portions of the extremities are poorly developed or absent. Thus the hands and feet are attached to the trunk directly or by means of a poorly formed bone. In some cases this condition was due to the pregnant woman taking thalidomide, a sleeping pill, during early pregnancy. That drug is no longer approved for such use.
A congenital anomaly characterized by the attachment of the feet and/or hands to the torso through abbreviated stumps. This condition is exceptionally uncommon but historically emerged as a consequence of women consuming the drug thalidomide during the initial stages of pregnancy.