THE RELATION OF HYPERTROPHIC OSTEOARTHROPATHY TO PULMONARY TUBERCULOSIS

Abstract

Cases of hypertrophic pulmonary osteo-arthropathy have been presented to this section by Dr. Theodore Janeway and our present secretary, Dr. Brooks. My excuse for bringing the subject to your attention is to emphasize certain points in the relation of this interesting clinical condition to pulmonary tuberculosis. The relative rarity of osteo-arthropathy in association with pulmonary tuberculosis has been mentioned by several authors. The writer of one of our modern textbooks on tuberculosis states that he has examined 2,300 patients suffering from pulmonary tuberculosis without once having encountered an osteo-arthropathy. It is only within the past decade that the importance of pulmonary tuberculosis as an etiologic factor in hypertrophic osteo-arthropathy has been recognized. The literaure to date contains about forty-three cases. Considerable discussion has appeared from time to time regarding the relation of club fingers to hypertrophic osteo-arthropathy. A number of French and a