Summary

An 18-year-old female tertiary student was referred to a lipid clinic with hypertriglyceridaemia discovered after presentation with acute pancreatitis. The patient’s only medication was l-thyroxine for treatment of hypothyroidism. She was overweight, normotensive, with unremarkable facies. However, she had hypermobile hand joints and brachydactyly resulting in loss of left 3–5 and right 4 and 5 knuckle definitions. Radiography revealed shortening of metacarpals 3–5 on the left and 4 and 5 on the right. Her mother had similar skeletal changes, consistent with a dominant mode of inheritance. Abnormally short digits involving the metacarpals, classified as brachydactyly type E, can be isolated or occur as part of a syndrome. Turner syndrome, Albright hereditary osteodystrophy, hypertension with brachydactyly, chromosome 2q37 microdeletion and PTHLH mutations were excluded following clinical, biochemical and genetic testing. No specific treatment was required. Genetic testing for isolated and syndromic forms of brachydactyly facilitates family screening and prepregnancy counselling.