The authors submit a review on the contemporary state of knowledge as regards Dupuytren’s contracture (DC) – on the etiopathogenesis, morphology, treatment and prognosis of the disease. The findings ensuing from investigations published abroad are compared with the results of the authors’ own investigations of a group of 121 miners of the Ostrava and Karviná region where in 1988 occupational nervous and vascular diseases of the upper extremities caused by work with vibrating tools and equipment were reported. The group was checked in 1993 and 1998, further examinations are planned in the course of 2003. The incidence of the disease correlated with the patients’ age, in the group under 42 years it was sporadic, after ten years it was more numerous as compared with the examination after five years. Subjectively the disease was evaluated as asymptomatic, the patients’ complaints were ascribed in particular to the basic nervous and vascular disease. In patients with a diagnosed traumatic vasoneurosis the subsequent development of DC was more frequent than in the group of patients with nervous affections of the extremities, while both groups had in their occupational history exposure to supra-limit vibrations and excessive overloading of the upper extremities. Bilateral affections predominated (63%), the remaining unilateral affections were always on the side of the dominant upper extremity. The examination of the group was originally focused in particular on affection of the vascular and nervous apparatus of the upper extremities, investigation of DC was not a priority and for evaluation of the findings some important data are lacking; no comparison with a reference group is available. The results of the examination support the theory on a possible causal relationship between the development of DC in workers exposed to vibrations.

        Key words: Dupuytren’s contracture, palmar aponeurosis, exposure to vibrations, manual work