Polyarthritis and Hypertrophic Pulmonary Osteoarthropathy in a Case of Pulmonary Neoplasm

Pulmonary osteoarthropathy may occur in cancer of the lung but is rare due to short course of the disease (Shanks and Kerley, 1951). The combination of polyarthritis is even more rare. Holmes et al. (1950) reported symptomatic arthritis complicating hypertrophic osteoarthropathy in a series of seven cases and stressed the importance of this condition in the diagnosis of pulmonary neoplasm. The case reported below showed swelling of the joints prior to clubbing of finger and toes and the patient had few symptoms suggestive of neoplasm in the lungs.