Osler's nodules

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Painful indurated areas on the pads of the fingers and toes, the thenar and hypothenar eminences, seen in bacterial endocarditis.

Description

Painful indurated areas on the pads of the fingers and toes, the thenar and hypothenar eminences, seen in bacterial endocarditis, often preceded by an aura of burning, throbbing pruritus, or tingling. In acute bacterial endocarditis, they are associated with minute infective emboli; in subacute bacterial endocarditis, they are associated with immune complexes and small-vessel arteritis of skin. The causative organism is Staphylococcus aureus.

Bibliography

  • W. Osler:
    Chronic infectious endocarditis.
    Quarterly Journal of Medicine, Oxford, 1908-1909, 2: 219-230.

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