Tripe palms: a significant cutaneous sign of internal malignancy

Tripe palms is a paraneoplastic keratotic skin sign of great predictive value. It is characterized clinically by a curious rugose thickening of the palms with an accentuation of the normal dermatoglyphic ridges and sulci. Histological examination reveals an undulant epidermis with hyperkeratosis, acanthosis and papillomatosis. More than 80 cases have been reported in the literature; 90% of them were associated with an internal malignancy, mostly a carcinoma of the lung or stomach. We herein report a 66-year-old Chinese man with adenocarcinoma of the lung who presented typical tripe palms. Recognition of this distinctive pattern should prompt a meticulous search for an underlying malignancy, particularly lung or gastric carcinoma.