title: Acute idiopathic blue fingers: a young man with Achenbach's syndrome.
abstract: We report a case of a 20-year-old man presenting with acute painful blue fingers. All physical findings, including an Allen test, were normal, and systematic symptoms frequently seen in collagen diseases were absent. Although we performed a wide variety of investigations including medical imaging, no specific abnormal findings were observed. Skin biopsy pathology was an important reference. The patient's symptoms gradually improved and were completely resolved without specific treatment. Based on the clinical presentation and course, we gave a diagnosis of Achenbach's syndrome, developed in a young male. Achenbach's syndrome is rare, but still may be encountered in clinical practice. The symptoms can be startling to the patient, eliciting fear of something terrible when, in fact, the syndrome is relatively benign and has a good prognosis. Recognising this disease quickly after presentation helps to eliminate the anxiety of the patient, as well as reducing excessively invasive investigations. We present a case report to enlighten Achenbach's syndrome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Hidemi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Haruhito Adam
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Uchida
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Yuka
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Okuyama
authors.affiliation: Department of Nephrology, Rheumatology, Endocrinology and Metabolism, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Okayama, Japan.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wada
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005385:Fingers / Q000098:blood supply / Q000473:pathology*; D006229:Hand Dermatoses / Q000209:etiology* / Q000473:pathology; D006406:Hematoma / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D006474:Hemorrhagic Disorders / Q000150:complications* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D009336:Necrosis; D010859:Pigmentation Disorders / Q000473:pathology; D013577:Syndrome; D055815:Young Adult