ABSTRACT
The bulbous digital deformity known as clubbing (Figure 2.1a,b) was described as early as the fifth century BC when Hippocrates noted such changes in patients suffering from empyema. The diagnostic signs comprise:
A simple method to detect clubbing is measurement of the phalangeal depth ratio (Figure 2.3). In a normal finger the distal phalangeal depth is smaller than the interphalangeal depth. In clubbing this relationship is reversed (>1). The measurement can easily be taken using a caliper in less than a minute.
