- Carnett's sign
In
medicine , Carnett's sign is aneponymous finding onclinical examination in which (acute)abdominal pain remains unchanged or increases when the muscles of theabdominal wall are tensed.cite journal |author=Suleiman S, Johnston DE |title=The abdominal wall: an overlooked source of pain |journal=Am Fam Physician |volume=64 |issue=3 |pages=431–8 |year=2001 |month=August |pmid=11515832 |doi= |url=] cite journal |author=Cartwright SL, Knudson MP |title=Evaluation of acute abdominal pain in adults |journal=Am Fam Physician |volume=77 |issue=7 |pages=971–8 |year=2008 |month=April |pmid=18441863 |doi= |url=] For this part of theabdominal examination , the patient can be asked to lift the head and shoulders from the examination table to tense the abdominal muscles. An alternative is to ask the patient to raise both legs with straight knees.A
positive test increases the likelihood that the abdominal wall and not theabdominal cavity is the source of the pain (for example, due torectus sheath hematoma instead ofappendicitis ).cite journal |author=Gray DW, Dixon JM, Seabrook G, Collin J |title=Is abdominal wall tenderness a useful sign in the diagnosis of non-specific abdominal pain? |journal=Ann R Coll Surg Engl |volume=70 |issue=4 |pages=233–4 |year=1988 |month=July |pmid=2970820 |doi= |url=] cite journal |author=Thomson H, Francis DM |title=Abdominal-wall tenderness: A useful sign in the acute abdomen |journal=Lancet |volume=2 |issue=8047 |pages=1053–4 |year=1977 |month=November |pmid=72957 |doi= |url=http://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S0140-6736(77)91885-2] A negative Carnett's sign is said to occur when the abdominal pain decreases when the patient is asked to lift the head; this points to an intra-abdominal cause of the pain.Footnotes
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