This site is intended for healthcare professionals

Go to /sign-in page

You can view 5 more pages before signing in

Hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy

Last reviewed dd mmm yyyy. Last edited dd mmm yyyy

Authoring team

Hypertrophic pulmonary osteoarthropathy is a rare disorder that is associated with severe clubbing.

This disorder is characterised by:

  • subperiosteal new bone formation at the distal ends of long bones, metatarsals, metacarpals and proximal phalanges
  • symmetrical arthropathy of adjacent joints
  • clubbing of the fingers
  • gynaecomastia

The patient may complain of dull aching and sometimes swelling of the wrist and ankles.

This syndrome is most commonly seen in patients with bronchogenic carcinoma - 90% of cases are associated with bronchogenic carcinoma, especially peripheral squamous cell tumours - but also:

  • other intrathoracic tumours
  • chronic lung sepsis
  • chronic liver disease

The pain of the symmetrical arthropathy may be helped by vagotomy below the origin of the recurrent laryngeal nerve.


Related pages

Create an account to add page annotations

Add information to this page that would be handy to have on hand during a consultation, such as a web address or phone number. This information will always be displayed when you visit this page