Hypertrophic Osteoarthropathy in Cystic Fibrosis

Abstract

Pulmonary hypertrophic osteoarthropathy (PHOA) in cystic fibrosis has not been previously described in the English language, except for one patient mentioned briefly by Caffey.¹It is our purpose to present two patients with cystic fibrosis and symptomatic PHOA, and to give a preliminary report on the incidence of asymptomatic PHOA in cystic fibrosis. A brief discussion as to possible etiological factors of PHOA will also be given. PHOA is extremely rare in children; only ten cases were reported in the American and British literature up to 1960²; since then none has been reported. Clubbing is a common finding in cyanotic congenital heart disease and bronchiectasis, but PHOA is rarely associated with the former³and only occasionally with the latter. Clubbing and PHOA are felt by many to have a similar pathogenesis, and the former represents a more advanced state of the process.^2,4,5While it is true