[The acromegalic hand. Diagnostic value of various radiographic measurement indices]

The first classic description of so-called "spade hand" in acromegaly dates from 1886 and is reported by Marie [22]. The hand radiograph is easily diagnostic, when gross abnormalities are present. Sometimes, however, it may be difficult to distinguish the appearances of the milder case from the normal, only by X-ray. The aim of this paper is to define the position of several hand measurements (sesamoid index, tufting, joint space thickness, hand length, metacarpal index, soft tissue measurements at index finger) and to compare these indices in relation to the detection of disease in radiological diagnosis. Hand measurements were made in 100 normal controls and in 19 cases of acromegaly, of whom hand radiograph and xerograph were performed and also compared each others.