medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

, shifting dullness refers to a

sign A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...

elicited on

physical examination In a physical examination, medical examination, or clinical examination, a medical practitioner examines a patient for any possible medical signs or symptoms of a medical condition. It generally consists of a series of questions about the patien ...

for

ascites Ascites is the abnormal build-up of fluid in the abdomen. Technically, it is more than 25 ml of fluid in the peritoneal cavity, although volumes greater than one liter may occur. Symptoms may include increased abdominal size, increased weight, ab ...

(fluid in the

peritoneal cavity The peritoneal cavity is a potential space between the parietal peritoneum (the peritoneum that surrounds the abdominal wall) and visceral peritoneum (the peritoneum that surrounds the internal organs). The parietal and visceral peritonea are la ...

).Murray Longmore, Ian B. Wilinson, Edward H. Dawvidson, Alexander Foulkes and Ahmad R. Mafi ''Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine'' 8thEdition Oxford University Press 2010 Shifting dullness

The test is performed by first percussing the midline of the

abdomen The abdomen (colloquially called the belly, tummy, midriff, tucky or stomach) is the part of the body between the thorax (chest) and pelvis, in humans and in other vertebrates. The abdomen is the front part of the abdominal segment of the torso. ...

to elicit a resonant note due to gas in the abdomen. If there is no area of resonance, then the test cannot be performed. Percussion is then moved progressively more laterally (away from the examiner) – this is depicted as the red section in the diagram on the right – until the note becomes dull, as depicted by the green section. The examiner's index finger remains on the resonant side, and the middle finger remains on the dull side, straddling the fluid-air level. The patient is then asked to lean on their right lateral side (assuming the examiner used the traditional right-sided approach). This stabilises the patient by positioning them between the examiner's hands and body. It is imperative that the examiner's fingers stay in the same position. After waiting sufficient time for any fluid to shift (up to 30 seconds), the dull position is then percussed. It may now be resonant. The percussion may now be performed down the anterior side until a new dullness is found. To confirm a positive result it is recommended that the now resonant area become dull again when the patient is back in the supine position. If the borders between tympanitic (resonant) and dull notes remain the same, the person probably does not have ascites, or has less than 2 litres of free fluid present. If the fluid causing the dullness was not free, then the air-fluid level would not move. Shifting dullness is usually present if the volume of ascitic fluid is up to 500 mL ml. If low volume ascites is suspected, then an attempt to elicit the puddle sign may be performed.

References

Medical signs {{Med-sign-stub

See also

References