Examination of swelling

In medical parlance, swelling is the transient enlargement or protuberance in the body and may include tumors. According to cause, it may be congenital, traumatic, inflammatory, neoplastic or miscellaneous.It can occur throughout the body (generalized), or a specific part or organ can be affected (localized). Swelling is considered one of the five characteristics of inflammation; along with pain, heat, redness, and loss of function.In a general sense, the suffix "-megaly" is used to indicate a growth, as in hepatomegaly, acromegaly, and splenomegaly.A body part may swell in response to injury, infection, or disease, as well as because of an underlying lump. Swelling — especially swelling of the ankle can also occur if the body is not circulating fluid well.Generalized swelling, or massive edema (also called anasarca), is a common sign in severely ill people. Although slight edema may be difficult to detect to the untrained eye, especially in an overweight person, massive edema is very obvious.

The abdominojugular test - "hepatojugular reflex"

The abdominojugular test (AJR), also known as hepatojugular reflex or reflux, is used as an alternate test for measuring jugular venous pressure (JVP) through the distension or swelling of the internal jugular vein. A positive AJR best correlates with the pulmonary artery pressure and thus is a marker for right heart dysfunction

Homan's sign - Examination

In medicine, Homans' sign is a sign of deep vein thrombosis (DVT). A positive sign is present when there is pain in the calf or popliteal region with examiner's abrupt dorsiflexion of the patient's foot at the ankle while the knee is flexed to 90 degrees.This sign is frequently elicited in clinical practice because of the ease of use, although it is falling into disfavor because of poor reliability and because it is frequently positive in individuals without DVT. A positive Homans' sign does not positively diagnose DVT (poor positive predictive value), and a negative Homans' sign does not rule out the DVT diagnosis (poor negative predictive value). It is named for the American physician John Homans.

Stereognosis - examination video

Stereognosis is the ability to perceive the form of an object by using the sense of touch. In humans, this sense, along with tactile spatial acuity, vibration perception, texture discrimination and proprioception, is mediated by the posterior column-medial lemniscus pathway of the central nervous system. Sterognosis tests determine whether or not the parietal lobe of the brain is intact. Stereognosis is a higher cerebral associative cortical function.The lack of this ability is called astereognosis. It may be caused by disease of the sensory cortex or posterior columns. People suffering from Alzheimer's Disease show a reduction in stereognosis.For other types of dementia, stereognosis does not appear to decline.