Introduction:

Achenbach's syndrome is a vascular disorder of the hands and feet. It is of unknown etiology and has a benign course. Because of its low prevalence, available literature is limited, and most publications are case reports. No Latin-American publications were found on the subject. The case of a 58 year-old man is presented, along with a systematic review of the literature to describe its clinical characteristics.

Methods:

A literature search was conducted in PubMed, Embase and Lilacs using free terms and controlled vocabulary (MeSH, Emtree, and DeCS).

Results: An analysis was made on a total of 23 articles, 19 of which were case reports, with a total of 46 patients, 43 women and 3 men, from 7 countries. The disorder occurs most often in women over 50 years, and is manifested by the sudden appearance of a blue coloration of the palmar surface of the fingers. It is less common in the feet.

Conclusions:

Achenbach's syndrome is benign, and does not require medical intervention. Diagnostic methods are of little use. Therefore, identification is important to avoid unnecessary procedures.

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