Finger clubbing in malignant mesothelioma and benign asbestos pleural disease

Abstract

Malignant mesothelioma, first described in association with asbestos exposure by Wagner et al. in 1960 (l), is commonly listed as a cause of finger clubbing (2,3). It is possible that finger clubbing described in cases of mesothelioma is associated with underlying asbestosis rather than with the pleural disease. Coutts et al. (4) found that 43% of men with asbestosis had finger clubbing, while Ehnes and Simpson (5) found an incidence of 9.5% in a retrospective casenote review of 327 cases of mesothelioma. We have investigated this further by comparing the incidence of finger clubbing in asbestos workers with mesothelioma and with benign pleural disease. TABLE 1. Incidence of finger clubbing in mesothelioma, pleural plaque and diffuse pleural fibrosis with or without plaque