Chylous ascites, intestinal lymphangiectasia and the 'yellow-nail' syndrome.
In 1964 Samman and White described 13 patients with lymphoedema of the lower extremities associated with an unusual dystrophy of the finger and toe nails: this they termed the 'yellow-nail' syndrome. Affected nails were thickened, excessively curved along both axes, very slow growing and of yellowish-grey hue; cuticle and lunula were usually absent and onycholysis was frequently evident. Lower limb lymphangiography in most individuals revealed hypoplasia, or aplasia of the lymphatics, similar to that occurring in primary lymphoedema: other patients also developed pleural effusions of high protein content or ascites suggestive of a more generalised disorder of the lymphatic system. Here we describe a patient in whom the classical 'yellow-nail' syndrome was associated with intestinal and chylous ascites.
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
FAUL, J. L., BERRY, G. J., COLBY, T. V., RUOSS, S. J., WALTER, M. B., ROSEN, G. D., RAFFIN, T. A.
(2000). Thoracic Lymphangiomas, Lymphangiectasis, Lymphangiomatosis, and Lymphatic Dysplasia Syndrome. Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med.
161: 1037-1046
[Full Text]
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
