Painful Clubbing and Sarcoidosis
- Sterling G. West, MD;
- Roy E. Gilbreath, MD;
- Oliver J. Lawless, MD
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Excerpt
ACQUIRED clubbing, particularly when painful, has long been recognized as an important physical finding often associated with an underlying disease. Detailed reviews have listed numerous pulmonary, cardiac, hepatic, gastrointestinal (GI), and endocrinologic diseases as causes of acquired symmetrical clubbing.1,2 Notably absent from this list is sarcoidosis, which is a systemic disease known frequently to affect all these organ systems simultaneously.
We report herein sarcoidosis associated with painful clubbing of all fingers and toes. Of interest also was the dramatic relief of pain and stiffness achieved with colchicine therapy.
Report of a Case A 28-year-old man was seen at the medical clinic with a three-year history of migratory polyarthralgias and an 18-month history of painful clubbing of fingers and toes. Associated symptoms included malaise, generalized weakness, low-grade fever, 7-kg weight loss, nonproductive cough with dyspnea on exertion, and one episode of painful nodules on the anterior aspect of his shins.
Footnotes
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The opinions and assertions contained herein are the private views of the authors and are not to be construed as official or as reflecting the views of the Department of the Army or Department of Defense.
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Reprint requests to Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology Service, Department of Medicine, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, Washington, DC 20012 (Dr Lawless).
