What are the causes of finger clubbing?
16 May 04 A Finger clubbing or hypertrophic osteoarthropathy is a non-specific sign associated with a wide variety of diseases, but the exact pathophysiology is not known. Certainly, familial or congenital finger clubbing is a known entity. In cardiology, finger clubbing can be found in conditions as diverse as cyanotic congenital heart disease, atrial myxoma and subacute bacterial endocarditis, while in respiratory medicine, finger clubbing can be found in lung cancer (not usually small cell cancer), fibrosing alveolitis and mesothelioma, as well as suppurative lung disease (empyema, bronchiectasis, lung abscess, cystic fibrosis). In gastroenterology, finger clubbing can be associated with cirrhosis, gastrointestinal lymphoma, malabsorption (for example coeliac disease) and inflammatory bowel disease (ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease). Much rarer is clubbing in the form of thyroid acropachy and unilateral clubbing from an axillary artery aneurysm and arteriovenous malformations. Fr