As an undergraduate you probably spent cumulative hours staring purposefully at fingers to convince the examiner you were looking for clubbing, and now at MRCP you need to think about it again..
Firstly, for a definition: clubbing is defined as loss of the obtuse angle between the nail and the dorsum, with thickening of the nail bed and increased curvature of the nail bed in both directions. There may also be increased fluctuation of the nail bed and the finger can sometimes have a 'drumstick like' appearence.
A picture can be found here
And now, for some causes, and a cry of 'ACE MILC (milk) MCFAB'!
Cardiac causes:
- atrial myxoma
- cyanotic congenital heart disease
- endocarditis
- malabsorption
- inflammatory bowel disease
- lymphoma
- cirrhosis
- mesothioloma
- CF and cancer
- fibrosis
- abscess
- bronchiectasis
Thats all for today, but if you participated in battle 3 yesterday and fancy testing yourself go on for a brief test here...
