Open Access Publication Hypertrophic Osteoarthropathy and Digital clubbing in Lung Adenocarcinoma By Konstantinos Michalakis, MD 1 Dimitrios-Anestis Moutzouris, MD 2 The Foot and Ankle Online Journal 2 (7): 2 Hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (HOA) is characterized by digital clubbing, tubular bones periostosis and synovial effusions mostly in the large joints. While HOA can present as primary bone disease, it is often encountered in lung adenocarcinoma. Although not directly relevant to foot diseases, we believe that the characteristics of hypertrophic osteoarthropathy should be recognized among podiatrists and in general physicians involved with hand and foot abnormalities. We believe that the submitted clinical image has educational value for medical students, residents, and practicing clinicians. The physician should recognize digital clubbing when evaluating a patient with such a clinical manifestation, shortening the time to diagnosis and improving the outcome. A case report and discussion is presented describing HOA features. Key Words: Hypertrophic Osteoarthropathy, digital clubbing Accepted: June, 2009 Published: July, 2009 This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. It permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ©The Foot and Ankle Online Journal (www.faoj.org ) ypertrophic osteoarthropathy or HOA is characterized by digital clubbing, tubular bones periostosis and synovial effusions mostly in the large joints. It can be primary or secondary usually associated with lung cancer and more often with adenocarcinoma. 1 Case Report A 62 year-old man presented reporting cough, weight loss and anorexia during the last 6 months. He stated also that his fingers “look different”. Medical history was remarkable for heavy smoking over 30 years. He was diagnosed with lung adenocarcinoma and HOA. (Fig. 1) Address correspondence to: Konstantinos Michalakis ,Corresponding Author, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Maryland, Bethesda, USA kostismichalakis@hotmail.com Tel. +1-3477550420 Fax +30-210-6437781 1 National Institutes of Health, Endocrine Dept, Bethesda, Maryland, USA. 2 Evagelismos General Hospital, Nephrology Clinic, Athens, Greece. ISSN 1941-6806 doi: 10.3827/faoj.2009.0207.0002 Figure 1 A 62 year-old male with diagnosed lung adenocarcinoma and associated finger nail clubbing. © The Foot and Ankle Online Journal, 2009 H