What is the connection between having rounded finger and toe nails and needing a chest x ray?

It is called Clubbing:





clubbing (or digital clubbing) is a deformity of the fingers and fingernails that is associated with a number of diseases, mostly of the heart and lungs. Idiopathic clubbing can also occur. Hippocrates was probably the first to document clubbing as a sign of disease, and the phenomenon is therefore occasionally called Hippocratic fingers.





Clubbing develops in five steps:[1]





Fluctuation and softening of the nail bed (increased ballotability)


Loss of the normal %26lt;165掳 angle (';Lovibond angle';) between the nailbed and the fold (cuticula)


Increased convexity of the nail fold


Thickening of the whole distal finger (resembling a drumstick)


Shiny aspect and striation of the nail and skin


Schamroth's test or Schamroth's window test (originally demonstrated by South African cardiologist Dr Leo Schamroth on himself[2]) is a popular test for clubbing. When the distal phalanges of corresponding digits of opposite hands are directly apposed, fingernail to fingernail, a small diamond-shaped ';window'; is apparent between the nailbeds. If this window is obliterated, the test is positive and clubbing is present.





When clubbing is encountered in patients, doctors will seek to identify its cause. They usually accomplish this by obtaining a medical history鈥?particular attention is paid to lung, heart, and gastrointestinal conditions 鈥攁nd conducting a clinical examination, which may disclose associated features relevant to a diagnosis. Additional studies such as a chest x-ray may also be performed.





Isolated clubbing





Clubbing in the fingers of a 33-year old female with pulmonary hypertension.Clubbing is associated with:





Lung disease:


Lung cancer, mainly large-cell (35% of all cases), not seen frequently in small cell lung cancer[3]


Interstitial lung disease


Tuberculosis


Bronchiectasis


Suppurative lung disease: lung abscess, empyema


Cystic fibrosis


Pulmonary hypertension


Mesothelioma


Heart disease:


Any disease featuring chronic hypoxia


Congenital cyanotic heart disease (most common cardiac cause)


Subacute bacterial endocarditis


Atrial myxoma (benign tumor)


Others:


Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis


Hyperthyroidism (thyroid acropachy)


Liver diseases (in the ';hepatopulmonary syndrome';, a complication of cirrhosis)[4]


Malabsorption


Vascular anomalies of the affected arm (in unilateral clubbing)


Although many of these associations are recognised (such as the link with lung cancer), some are based on a few observations and might be false. Prospective studies of patients presenting with clubbing have not been performed, and hence there are no reliable numbers as to the distribution of the causes and the prognosis.





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HPOA


A special form of clubbing is hypertrophic pulmonary osteo-arthropathy, known in continental Europe as Pierre Marie-Bamberger syndrome. This is the combination of clubbing and thickening of periosteum (connective tissue lining of the bones) and synovium (lining of joints), and is often initially diagnosed as arthritis. It is associated almost exclusively with lung cancer. In dogs the condition is known as hypertrophic osteopathy.





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Primary HOA


Primary hypertrophic osteo-arthropathy is HPOA without signs of pulmonary disease. This form has a hereditary component, although subtle cardiac abnormalties can occasionally be found. It is known in continental Europe as the Touraine-Solente-Gol茅 syndrome.





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Pathophysiology


Even though clubbing is a well established physical finding in many diseases, the physiological mechanism that actually causes clubbing is not well established. Current understanding is that these diseases cause vasodilation in the distal circulation which leads to hypertrophy of the tissue of the nailbeds and thus to the clubbed fingernails.





Other factors that have been implicated are secretion of growth factors (such as hepatocyte growth factor) by pathologic lesions.








I hopr this helpsWhat is the connection between having rounded finger and toe nails and needing a chest x ray?
in addition to what astrid2x said, lack of O2 to the extremities can be from a heart issue, thus the CXR...What is the connection between having rounded finger and toe nails and needing a chest x ray?
What in Gods name are you on about?
I think you're probably describing a condition called ';clubbing'; of the nails. It can be a sign that you aren't getting enough oxygen to your extremities.
Clubbed fingers usually indicates either a chest illness or liver disease.
Um, none?! Rounded nails are how you style them.....what a strange question!
If your nails naturally curve downwards (like claws) indicate that you have a lung problem. This is not an old wives' tale, it is true. A friend of mine has got to see a lung specialist, but before, she had to fill in a form for the hospital and it had a question in it that asked her about whether her nails are claw-like or straight. I always thought it was just a hear say but when I saw the question in the NHS questionnaire I was stunned.
strange is not a word to describe this question.