Prevalence of digital clubbing using a new digital index in lung cancer patients

Abstract EN

Background: Digital clubbing occurs in association with various lung diseases including cancer.

Clubbing can be a paraneoplastic manifestation of bronchogenic carcinoma.

Methods: Clubbing was assessed with measurement of the thickness of both base of nail bed (distal-phalangeal depth DPD), and the distal interphalangeal depth (IPD) of the index finger in both lung cancer patients and controls.

Results: Of the 97 normal subjects, only one patient had DPD/IPD ratio more than 1.1 on right and left indexes fingers.

For lung cancer patients 48.3% had bilateral clubbing with highly significant difference between them and controls (p< 0.001).

Such patients were at high risk to develop lung cancer (OR = 89.8) (p < 0.001).

There was no difference between the prevalence of clubbing and different types of lung cancer.

Conclusion: Patients with bilateral clubbing were at risk 8 times more to develop lung cancer.

Also, the prevalence of clubbing was independent on the types of lung cancer.