Abdominal & Digestive Signs

Signs of the abdomen and digestive system: the tenderness tests of appendicitis and gallbladder disease, the bruising signs of pancreatitis and internal bleeding, and the lumps and nodes that can point to abdominal cancer.

This page lists all 34 of them in the guide. Open any sign for how it is elicited, what it suggests, and its eponym story where it has one.

Sign	System	A positive finding is associated with
Aaron's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Described as associated with chronic appendicitis, though it is rarely used today.
Asterixis	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with metabolic encephalopathy, classically liver failure (hepatic encephalopathy); also seen in kidney failure and high carbon dioxide levels.
Ballance's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with a ruptured spleen with clotted blood around it.
Blumberg's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with irritation of the peritoneum (peritonism), as in appendicitis or a perforated viscus.
Blumer's shelf	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with metastatic deposits from an abdominal cancer, classically of the stomach, seeding the pelvic peritoneum.
Boas' sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Described as associated with acute gallbladder disease (cholecystitis).
Caput medusae	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with portal hypertension, most often from cirrhosis of the liver.
Carnett's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with pain arising in the abdominal wall itself rather than from an organ inside; tenderness that eases on tensing points inward.
Castell's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with enlargement of the spleen (splenomegaly).
Charcot's triad	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with acute cholangitis — infection of the bile ducts behind an obstruction.
Courvoisier's gallbladder	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with obstruction of the bile duct by a tumour, classically of the pancreatic head, rather than by stones.
Cullen's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with blood in the peritoneal cavity, classically severe acute pancreatitis and ruptured ectopic pregnancy.
Currant jelly stool	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with intussusception, where one segment of bowel telescopes into another.
Dance's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with intussusception in infants and young children.
Dullness in Traube's space	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with enlargement of the spleen or a left pleural effusion occupying the space.
Dunphy's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with peritoneal irritation in acute appendicitis.
Fetor hepaticus	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with advanced liver failure and portosystemic shunting of blood.
Fox's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with retroperitoneal haemorrhage, including from severe pancreatitis.
Grey Turner's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with retroperitoneal bleeding, classically severe acute pancreatitis.
Howship–Romberg sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with an obturator hernia pressing on the obturator nerve.
Kehr's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with irritation of the diaphragm by blood, classically from a ruptured spleen.
Markle sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with localised peritoneal inflammation, used in suspected appendicitis.
McBurney's point tenderness	Abdomen & Digestion	Tenderness at this point is associated with acute appendicitis.
Murphy's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with inflammation of the gallbladder (acute cholecystitis).
Obturator sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with irritation of the obturator internus muscle, classically by an inflamed pelvic appendix, and also with pelvic abscess.
Psoas sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with irritation of the psoas muscle by an inflamed retrocaecal appendix, and also with psoas abscess or haematoma.
Puddle sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with small amounts of ascites too little to detect by shifting dullness.
Reynolds' pentad	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with severe, suppurative acute cholangitis with sepsis.
Rovsing's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with acute appendicitis, through stretch and irritation of the peritoneum.
Sister Mary Joseph nodule	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with metastatic spread of an abdominal or pelvic cancer to the umbilicus.
Succussion splash	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with gastric outlet obstruction (in the stomach) or with air and fluid in the chest cavity (hydropneumothorax).
Valentino's sign	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with a perforated peptic ulcer mimicking appendicitis.
Virchow's node	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with metastatic spread from an abdominal cancer, classically of the stomach.
Visible peristalsis	Abdomen & Digestion	Associated with obstruction of the stomach outlet or bowel, classically pyloric stenosis in infants.

Please note: This page is an educational reference about clinical examination signs. A clinical sign supports — and never replaces — a full clinical evaluation, examination and appropriate testing. A sign being present does not by itself prove a diagnosis, and an absent sign does not rule one out. If you have symptoms that worry you, see a health professional.

Abdominal & Digestive Signs

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