Abstract
Achenbach's syndrome corresponds to a pathology characterized by the appearance of ecchymoses and bruises on the fingers of the hands and eventually on the feet. It is a benign and self-limited disease, which is accompanied by pain. It generates great concern because its sudden appearance leads women who are the most affected to consult the emergency services. At present, its pathophysiology is unknown and requires knowledge of the disease to diagnose it. It is a must for poorly trained professionals.
Dear Editor,
Regarding the text published by Clive Chate in this journal under the title “Achenbach's hand and digital paroxysmal haematomas: a possible association with joint hypermobility syndrome in two sibling cases,” 1 we want to mention that in Achenbach's syndrome the common symptoms are edema and pain in the affected area, which are present in ∼50–60% of cases; paresthesia can appear in up to 25% of episodes, and a striking finding that has reported is subconjunctival bleeding, as described by Young et al. 2 in 2018. We find it interesting that the author has found a relationship between this pathology and joint hypermobility. When searching the literature on the matter in the different databases, it was not possible to find a relationship similar to that reported by the authors. However, this pathology was poorly documented throughout history, and a review in the Pubmed-Medline database only finds 34 manuscripts that address this entity to the actual date. It is also important to note that a family relationship was found in other manuscripts such as Helm's, 3 making it even more attractive to actively search for associated conditions such as joint hypermobility in patients presenting with Achenbach's syndrome. Little is known about the pathophysiology of this condition; in general, the knowledge is about the histological findings, but there are only theories about how it originates this pathology. For this reason, the manuscript of Clive Chate seems interesting to us since it not only suggests the family component of the disease, which is following what has been stated by other authors, but also indicates a possible relationship with other conditions such as hereditary collagen alterations, which until now has not been studied.
